GUANGZHOU: This provincial capital is expected to become a global aviation
hub in a few years. The new Guangzhou International Airport is scheduled for completion
within two years.
Lin Shusen, mayor of Guangzhou, said construction of the new airport is of great
significance for the prosperous Guangdong Province, which fringes Hong Kong and Macao.
"The new airport, which is expected to cost more than 20 billion yuan (US$2.4
billion), is the most important project in 2000," Lin said.
Work on the gigantic project will officially start on April 15, the mayor said. It will
cover an area of 1,456 hectares.
The new Guangzhou International Airport will compliment the busy Chek Lap Kok Airport
in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
The municipal government has pooled funds from various sources at home and abroad to
help raise the large sums needed for the construction, Lin said.
The new airport will be constructed and managed by a shareholding company that consists
of domestic and overseas investors.
Infrastructural facilities for the project have been completed in time for the official
start of construction.
In the past few years, more than 20,000 people from 6,000 farming families in nine
villages have moved away to give way for construction of the airport in the northern part
of the city.
Properties covering an area of over 1 million square metres have also been moved
elsewhere.
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport is already one of the busiest airports in China,
annually dealing with about 30 million passengers.
The new airport is designed to handle more than 80 million passengers and 2.5 million
tons of cargo annually, according to airport designers.
Located about 30 kilometres from the city proper, the project includes two runways, a
terminal with a floor space of 300,000 square metres, a cargo transportation station, an
airport hotel, an elevated railway and an expressway linking it to downtown areas.
Meanwhile construction of the 51-kilometre airport expressway will also formally start
next month. |
