Conversion of 270 hectares of forest land has been approved for construction of Tho Chi Airport, classified by the Ministry of National Defence as an ‘urgent public investment project’ with an estimated total investment of VND28.8 trillion (USD1.1 billion).

Geographically remote from the Vietnam mainland, and home to only 1,800 people, Tho Chu is located about 110km southwest of Phú Quốc Island in the Gulf of Thailand and is part of the An Giang province. Tho Chu is the largest and the administrative centre of eight islands comprising the Tho Chu Special Economic Zone and the archipelago is only accessible be sea. On a November 2025 visit, Party General Secretary and Secretary of the Central Military Commission, To Lam, called for transformation of the newly established zone into a ‘strong and sustainable maritime zone’, directing the Ministry of National Defence and other agencies to develop a master plan with feasibility studies for housing, upgrade of coastal road and other transport infrastructure, water and energy projects, and large seafood logistics and processing facilities. He spoke of the Tho Chu islands’ pristine ecosystems with clean seas, high-yielding fishing grounds, forest cover of 80-90%, sunny weather for seven months of the year and unique landscapes being ideally suited for ‘eco-tourism’. He also urged the Ministry of National Defence to consider construction of a dual-use (civilian and military) airport on Tho Chu Island, initially a 4C airport with capacity to handle narrow-bodied aircraft such as the Airbus A320 and A321 with potential future expansion to a 4E airport handling wide-bodied aircraft including the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787.

Plans for an airport on Tho Chu Island moved forward in December 2025 when Vietnam’s Ministry of Defence submitted a dossier for high-level review. The Tho Chu Airport master plan, for a dual-use airport, serving socio-economic development and transforming Tho Chu into a defence centre for the southwestern sea region, was added to the national airport network in May 2026. With an estimated total investment is VND28.8 trillion (USD1.1 billion) and land requirement of approximately 234 hectares the new airport is anticipated to reach capacity for approximately 20,000 passengers annually by 2030, rising to about 1 million passengers per year by 2050. The approved Tho Chu Airport plan is classified by the Ministry of National Defence as an ‘urgent public investment project’, exempt from investment policy approval and environmental impact assessment processes. The airport project aligns with the An Giang Province 2021-2030 development plan and on 21st May 2026 An Giang Province authorities approved conversion of 270 hectares of forest land for building Tho Chi Airport. The investor committed to pay for planting replacement forest. But newly planted forest is not a replacement for the biodiversity that builds up over time in long-established forest. And aerial imagery, in the timelapse graphic above, shows that, between April 2014 and February 2026, approximately 243 hectares of forest on Tho Chu Island was cleared. Grading works, levelling the site for construction, are underway, along with smaller scale forest clearance for coastal and access road development.