HANOI, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Van Don airport in Vietnam's northern Quang Ninh province, which can serve international flights, is scheduled to become operational in April 2018, local media reported on Monday.

Capitalized at over 7,400 billion Vietnamese dong (about 327 million U.S. dollars) in Van Don district, Van Don airport will have a capacity of serving 2 million passengers and 10,000 tons of cargoes each year, online newspaper VnExpress quoted provincial authorities as saying.

Van Don airport is designed to function as a domestic airport capable of handling international flights, according to its investor, local property developer Sun Group.

Quang Ninh plans to complete construction of expressway sections which links Van Don district with Hanoi capital city by the end of this year, so that it will take over two hours, instead of more than five hours, to travel between the two localities.

Late last year, the Vietnamese government decided to establish three major special economic zones, namely Van Don in Quang Ninh, Bac Van Phong in central Khanh Hoa province, and Phu Quoc in southern Kien Giang province.

Quang Ninh has attracted some 36,000 billion Vietnamese dong (nearly 1.6 billion U.S. dollars) in building major roads and bridges leading to Van Don, and tourism complexes with resorts, casinos and golf courses are under construction in the future special economic zone.