Work on Vietnam’s Long Thanh International Airport, one of the largest infrastructure projects in the country’s history, is to begin next month, according to local news site VnExpress.

The project is being developed by Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV). Lai Xuan Thanh, chairman of the corporation, told VnExpress that ACV had signed memorandums of understanding for around $6.1bn of loans with 12 organisations. The first phase of the work is expected to cost $4.3bn.

The airport will be about 40km east of Ho Chi Minh City in Dong Nai Province. The province has granted 1,800ha for the airport.

The first phase will have one 4km-long runway with a width of 75m, and a 373,000-sq-m terminal designed to serve 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo a year.

This phase is expected to  be complete in 2025. Two further phases will then be undertaken, and are due to finish before 2040. These will add three more runways and four passenger terminals, allowing the airport to accommodate 100 million passengers and 5 million tons of cargo.