The importance of the project
The project to repair the runway and taxiway of Lien Khuong airport has a total investment of more than 1,032 billion VND.
The technical highlight is the structural conversion from asphalt concrete to cement concrete for a runway of 3, 250m long and 45m wide.
This solution helps improve load-bearing capacity, allowing airports to receive wide-body aircraft such as Airbus A350 or Boeing 787.
According to the orientation to 2030, Lien Khuong airport will meet 4E standards with a capacity of about 5 million passengers/year and increase to 7 million passengers by 2050.
Infrastructure upgrades not only ensure flight safety but also play a strategic role in promoting Da Lat tourism, trade and attracting investment to the Central Highlands region.
Risk of delay
After more than 3 months of construction, the project is facing many difficulties due to material shortages, causing some items to be delayed.
According to Vietnam Airports Corporation - JSC (ACV), the project has a total investment of more than 1,032 billion VND, started on March 4, 2026 and is expected to put the airport back into operation on August 15, 2026.
Currently, many items are being deployed simultaneously, in which the excavation and clearing of the asphalt concrete road surface reaches 98%; the construction of aggregate stone foundations and cables through runways and taxiways reaches 100%.
However, some important items are still slow, such as the construction of cement concrete for runways and taxiways only reaching about 4% of the plan; the construction of drainage box culverts reached 33.17%; the soil foundation of the insurance strip reached 56.71%.
ACV said that the main reason is a lack of materials, especially gold sand meeting technical standards. By May 14, the amount of gathered gold sand only met about 29.5% of the contract demand, while cement reached 18.59%.
According to ACV, standard sand sources in Lam Dong and neighboring provinces are scarce, many mines are still facing exploitation procedures, while the demand for materials from infrastructure projects is increasing, making the supply even more pressured.
If the material shortage situation persists, the project risks not being completed on schedule to put Lien Khuong airport back into operation on August 15, 2026.
In the afternoon of May 15, Vice Chairman of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Hong Hai and the working delegation inspected the progress of the project to repair runways and taxiways at Lien Khuong International Airport.
Through actual inspection, Vice Chairman of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Hong Hai requested departments and branches to closely coordinate with investors and contractors to remove difficulties in material sources, control prices, and avoid speculation and price increases.
Provincial leaders emphasized that this is an important transport infrastructure project for socio-economic development, tourism and regional connectivity of Lam Dong; and at the same time requested units to proactively source materials, increase human resources and machinery to compensate for the slow progress of items.
