Infrastructure and prices: how to read infrastructure progress without paying for hype

Legal basis: National Assembly Resolution 94/2015/QH13 dated 25/6/2015 (investment policy for Long Thanh International Airport); information published by ACV and the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam in Government News up to 12/10/2026 · Updated 20/10/2026.

Infrastructure is the reason most often cited in property advertising, and also where prices are most easily inflated. A project goes through many steps, and each one can slip by years. The safe approach is to tie every promise to a document, a date and a specific step.

The six steps of an infrastructure project

Step	Verifiable sign	Level of certainty
1. Planning	Included in an approved master plan	Low — there may be no funding or timeline yet
2. Investment policy	Resolution / investment policy decision by the competent authority	Low – medium
3. Project approval, funding allocated	Approval decision, funding source, project owner of the works	Medium
4. Site clearance, groundbreaking	Groundbreaking ceremony, machinery on site, contract packages signed	Medium – fairly high
5. Construction volume reached	% of output announced by the project owner of the works	Fairly high
6. Opening to traffic / operation	Formal announcement of operation	High — but capacity may ramp up gradually

Listings often write "coming soon" even for works still at steps 1–2. When you hear "soon", ask: which step is it at, what is the document number, and what is the date.

Example: the Long Thanh airport milestones

Date announced	What was announced	Source
25/6/2015	The National Assembly decided the investment policy (Resolution 94/2015/QH13), requiring completion and operation by 2025 at the latest	National Assembly resolution
05/01/2021	Phase 1 groundbreaking: 1 runway of 4,000 m, capacity of 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of cargo per year; target completion by the end of 2025	Ministry of Transport (at the time)
31/8/2023	Groundbreaking of the passenger terminal package, contract completion in November 2026	ACV
10/2024	The Government reported to the National Assembly: the project was behind the Resolution 94 milestone	Government report
04/10/2025	Civil Aviation Authority: commercial flights expected from June 2026	Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam
29/6/2026	ACV: output value of the whole project about 77%, aiming for commercial operation in December 2026	ACV
28/7/2026	Transition roadmap with Tan Son Nhat from 1/12/2026, in 3 steps up to March 2028	Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam
12/10/2026	Flight inspection and calibration 11–19/10/2026; operation at 6–10% of capacity (12/2026–3/2027), about 50% (4–10/2027), 100% after 10/2027	Civil Aviation Authority, ACV

Lessons from this example:

• The completion milestone slipped from the end of 2025 to June 2026, then to December 2026. Delays are normal for large works — so you should not value a home on the earliest milestone ever mentioned.
• Commercial operation does not mean busy straight away: in the first months it runs at only about 6–10% of capacity, and international flights move over gradually, season by season of the flight schedule.
• See the latest news in the article Long Thanh airport flight inspection and calibration.

Signs of price hype

• Asking prices jump right after infrastructure news at steps 1–2, before any groundbreaking.
• Adverts say "10 minutes from the airport" without saying by which road, or whether that road has opened.
• An old completion milestone that has already slipped is used as a reason to close at a price.
• There are no actual transactions to compare against, only asking prices in listings.
• Claims that "prices will certainly rise when the works are finished" — infrastructure does not guarantee any price increase.

How to check infrastructure information yourself

• Official sources: the Government Portal / Government News, the Ministry of Construction, the project owner of the works (for example ACV for the airport), the provincial or city People's Committee.
• Note the step and the announcement date of each milestone; a milestone with no document behind it counts as not existing yet.
• Work out real travel times along routes already in use, not planned routes.
• Long-term value also depends on jobs, schools, healthcare and the resident community — not only on the distance to one project.

This article is for reference only and does not replace legal or financial advice for your specific case.

1. Write down the name of the works and the promise in the advert (travel time, completion milestone).
2. Identify which step the works are at: planning, investment policy, approval, groundbreaking, construction volume reached, operation.
3. Find the original document or news on an official source: document number, date of issue, announcing authority.
4. Compare the current completion milestone with earlier announced milestones — how many times has it slipped?
5. Ask about capacity and frequency of operation in the first phase, not just the opening date.
6. Measure travel time along roads already open to traffic.
7. Compare asking prices with actual transactions in the same area before and after the infrastructure news.
8. Value the home on its current state; treat future infrastructure as a factor that may be delayed.

Sources in Vietnamese; titles kept in the original, with a short English translation in brackets.

• Vietnam Financial Times — Khởi công giai đoạn 1 sân bay Long Thành, khởi động một giai đoạn mới (Long Thanh airport phase 1 breaks ground, starting a new stage — Resolution 94/2015/QH13, groundbreaking 05/01/2021), 4 January 2021.
• Bao Dau tu – Tinnhanhchungkhoan — Có thể phải điều chỉnh thời gian hoàn thành dự án sân bay Long Thành (Long Thanh airport completion date may have to be adjusted — Government report to the National Assembly, terminal package 5.10), 6 October 2024.
• VnEconomy — Sân bay Long Thành chính thức đón máy bay thương mại vào tháng 6/2026 (Long Thanh airport to receive commercial flights in June 2026 — Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam), 4 October 2025.
• Bao Dau thau — Sân bay Long Thành phấn đấu đưa vào khai thác thương mại trong tháng 12/2026 (Long Thanh airport aims for commercial operation in December 2026 — ACV, citing Government News), 29 June 2026.
• Government News — Lộ trình chuyển đổi khai thác 2 sân bay Long Thành và Tân Sơn Nhất từ 1/12/2026 (Transition roadmap for operating Long Thanh and Tan Son Nhat airports from 1/12/2026), 28 July 2026.
• Government News — Bay kiểm tra, hiệu chuẩn hệ thống tại sân bay Long Thành trong tháng 10 (Flight inspection and system calibration at Long Thanh airport in October), 12 October 2026.
• Vietnam+ (VNA) — Bay kiểm tra, hiệu chuẩn định kỳ hệ thống tại Sân bay quốc tế Long Thành (Periodic flight inspection and system calibration at Long Thanh International Airport), 12 October 2026.