The Three Times Tô Lâm Publicly Addressed the Long Thành Airport Project

Discussions surrounding the Long Thành Airport project are heating up in Việt Nam, driven by General Secretary of the Communist Party Tô Lâm.

Approved in principle by the 13th National Assembly on June 25, 2015, Long Thành International Airport in Đồng Nai Province is a colossal undertaking. It covers about 5,000 hectares with a total investment of 336.63 trillion đồng (approximately US$16 billion, based on 2014 unit prices). 

The resolution passed with 428 out of 461 present deputies voting in favor, which accounted for 86.64% of all National Assembly members. [1] 

Its primary objective is to reach a maximum capacity of 100 million passengers per year, alleviating congestion at Tân Sơn Nhất Airport in Hồ Chí Minh City and establishing a competitive international aviation transit hub for the region. [2]

When the project was approved, Tô Lâm served as the Deputy Minister of Public Security and an 11th-tenure member of the Party Central Committee. He was not yet a National Assembly deputy, a role he would assume starting with the 14th term in 2016. 

Notably, Lâm made no public statements regarding Long Thành Airport before becoming General Secretary in August 2024, and even then, he waited more than a year into his tenure to publicly address the project.

To date, he has addressed the Long Thành Airport project publicly on three separate occasions.

“Long Thành Airport is a symbolic project representing the nation’s development aspirations.”

After more than a decade of silence regarding the trillion-đồng project, Tô Lâm made his first notable remarks during a field inspection visit to the construction site in November 2025, fifteen months after becoming General Secretary. [3]

During the visit, he stated that “Long Thành Airport is a symbolic project representing the nation’s development aspirations” and added that it “must be built and operated with a spirit of overcoming differences, pioneering innovation, and becoming a new model of modern, sustainable, and smart aviation infrastructure.”

He described the airport as a vital contribution to forming the nation’s three strategic pillars of development: institutions, infrastructure, and human resources. Emphasizing urgency, he warned. “Therefore, there can be no delays—every day of delay is a loss for the country.”

Furthermore, Tô Lâm instructed responsible agencies, specifically the Airports Corporation of Việt Nam (ACV), the Ministry of Construction, and the Ministry of Finance, to “calculate the investment efficiency of the project” with the mindset of “doing it once, doing it best, and doing it at a regional level.” 

He also established clear criteria for success: “A modern airport is truly effective only when passengers want to come, airlines want to land, businesses want to invest, and the nation benefits from the investment.”

Finally, he directed ministries, sectors, and local authorities to prioritize connecting transportation infrastructure with Long Thành Airport to maximize transport links, urban services, and logistics systems in a synchronized, modern manner.

“Travel from Hồ Chí Minh City to Long Thành Airport must not exceed 30 minutes.”

Just three months later, Tô Lâm’s tone shifted dramatically from praise to sharp questioning of the leaders responsible for the project. 

During a morning visit to Hồ Chí Minh City on Feb. 9, he stated, “I said before that travel from Hồ Chí Minh City to Long Thành Airport must not take more than 30 minutes. Now it takes two hours—two hours stuck in traffic—no one will come to Long Thành.” [4]

He pointed out that while Hồ Chí Minh City had prioritized numerous initiatives during the current term, critical issues remained unresolved. He specifically highlighted prolonged traffic congestion as a severe “bottleneck choke point” that the city must eliminate within 2026.

This revelation highlighted a glaring oversight: after a decade of implementation, the public only just learned that the transportation infrastructure essential for a transit airport had not been properly addressed. Following this visit, he gained momentum and continued to criticize the megaproject in his subsequent public remarks.

“A scale of US$16 billion is terrifying.”

Continuing his critique, Tô Lâm issued further critical remarks about the megaproject on Feb. 25 during a conference implementing Politburo Resolutions 79 and 80. [5]

He expressed serious alarm over the project’s massive budget. “When building an airport, how long will it take to recover the investment capital? Take Long Thành Airport as an example: US$16 billion. Looking at other countries, they invest only around ten billion. In Malaysia, Singapore… when they see the figures we announce, they become very concerned. A scale of US$16 billion is terrifying,” he said.

During the same morning session, he revealed that responsible agencies failed to answer three fundamental questions he had posed regarding Long Thành Airport.

“I asked whether it is superior to airports in Malaysia or Singapore—they could not prove it. I asked how long it would take to recover the US$16 billion for the state—they could not answer. I asked how much Long Thành Airport would contribute annually to national economic growth—they could not calculate it. That leads to wastefulness, negativity, and even losses if accounting is not properly conducted.”

To address these failures, he outlined three core priorities for economic development. 

The first is rigorous planning, specifically, the planning to prevent scattered investment. What should be done first, what later, what leads, and what is proactive. 

The second is enforcing quality standards, ensuring that regardless of the selected contractor, Vietnamese standards must be guaranteed. 

Finally, he reiterated the importance of proper accounting. He argued that state enterprises “have long neglected economic accounting, focusing mainly on disbursement.” This mindset means that once the government allocates trillions or tens of trillions of đồng and the funds are completely spent, officials mistakenly consider their task complete.

About the Long Thành Airport Project

Before its approval, the Long Thành Airport project faced significant opposition. [6] Critics primarily argued that the initial investment capital was excessively ambitious and risked exacerbating Việt Nam’s already high public debt. Furthermore, many observers considered the broad expectations attached to the megaproject to be completely unrealistic.

Investment reports from the National Assembly Office and the National Assembly’s Economic Committee expressed serious doubts about the airport’s ability to compete with established regional hubs, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. 

Additionally, they viewed the initial target of 100 million passengers as unfeasible. Many observers also considered the project’s approval a risky decision, especially since critical financial factors—like the investment payback period and its actual contribution to economic growth—remained unclear.

The project has also been marred by violations concerning land compensation, site clearance, and resettlement. [7] 

Starting in 2023, Đồng Nai provincial police investigated and prosecuted these infractions. Case files involving various officials accused of corruption and bribery are still being supplemented for further prosecution. Current plans anticipate the launch of full commercial operations at Long Thành Airport by June 2026, despite these controversies. [8]

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Hạo Nam wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on Feb. 27, 2026. Đàm Vĩnh Hằng translated it into English for The Vietnamese Magazine.