As Vietnam’s southern region enters the dry season peak, red dust from the construction of Long Thanh airport has covered the nearby HCMC – Dau Giay – Long Thanh Expressway, hampering traffic flow.
On Monday, dust from the airport project covers a section of the expressway through Dong Nai Province’s Long Thanh District for about 300 meters, obscuring drivers' visibility.
The project, spanning 5,000 hectares with a total investment of about VND336.63 trillion, started in early 2021. Once completed, it will replace Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat as Vietnam’s largest.
Set to be completed next year, the airport’s first phase is being built with one runway, a terminal, and several ancillary facilities, aiming for a capacity of 25 million passengers per year.
HCMC – Long Thanh – Dau Giay is the vital expressway connecting HCMC with Dong Nai. It runs parallel to the airport for about 4 km, and stands about 200 meters away from an airport fence.
Between the airport and the expressway is a dense forest of rubber trees, but still the wind blows dust high into the air, spreading over a large area.
"I work in Long Khanh City of Dong Nai, and every afternoon on my way home, I often encounter dust pouring onto the expressway, reducing visibility and affecting traffic," said Tran Van Phuong, a HCMC resident.
Most drivers said dust appears on the expressway from the start of the dry season, which peaks in March with sunny and windy weather.
A representative of the Vietnam Aviation Corporation (ACV), which operates all civil airlines in Vietnam, said that after a period of ground leveling construction, Long Thanh airport now has about 4,000 engineers and over 2,000 machines to accelerate progress.
From outside the protection corridor, the dust is dense, and it's impossible to see vehicles within a 100-meter distance.
The expressway's guardrails are covered in dust, while signs, as well as speed monitoring cameras on the route, are also affected by the dust from the airport construction site.
According to the Dong Nai Department of Natural Resources and Environment, dust pollution in this area exceeds the standard by as much as three-fold.
Dust rises hundreds of meters high, covering the expressway and the airport construction site behind it.
Provincial Road 769, passing through the entrance to gate No. 2 of Long Thanh Airport, and the underpass of the HCMC - Long Thanh - Dau Giay Expressway, is affected by reduced visibility due to dust.
Not only causing difficulties for traffic in the area, red dust also covers residential areas next to the airport.
Dense dust blankets an area of Hamlet No. 6 in Binh Son Commune that lies about 300 meters from the airport construction site, affecting hundreds of households living there.
A guard at Binh Son Primary School shows layers of dust accumulated on the school's corridors.
He said that the staff must sweep regularly, but it's futile because dust thickly accumulates on windows, corridors, and even inside classrooms within a few days.
Selling grocery at her house, Nam, 64, said she has to close all doors every day, leaving only a gap covered with fabric for customers to enter the shop.
She regularly cleans the floors and items inside but cannot keep them away from the dust.
Many residents of Binh Son Commune regularly close their doors to prevent dust.
Some business households cover up and water their premises regularly to limit the impact from the airport construction.
On March 18, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment demanded that the ACV urgently implement measures to remediate dust pollution caused by construction activities at the airport.
This is not the first time the construction site of Long Thanh airport has caused air pollution.
During the dry season last year, dust spread all over nearby residential areas in the same commune. In some cases, dust was recorded 10 km away.
Inspectors from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said in late April last year that the ACV, a 95% state-owned joint-stock company, failed to spray water adequately during the process of leveling the ground on an area of more than 2,500 hectares at the airport site.
As a result, ACV was fined VND270 million.
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