YANGON: Myanmar has picked South Korea’s state-run airport operator to build a new international hub near its main city, as the once-isolated nation sees booming tourist and business visitor numbers.
A consortium led by the Incheon International Airport Corp (IIAC) was chosen as the preferred bidder to construct the Hanthawaddy International Airport as a second hub for the country’s commercial centre Yangon, Myanmar’s Department of Civil Aviation said.
The final contract for the $1.1bn project will be signed at the end of this year, Seoul’s Transport Ministry said in a statement yesterday confirming the successful bid. Myanmar, which emerged from outright military rule in 2011, has seen a surge in tourist and business arrivals as reforms in the former pariah state lure holiday makers and potential investors. The country’s main air gateway Yangon International Airport, which is also set for expansion, currently has a capacity of only 2.7 million passengers annually and authorities warned last year that the number of arrivals was set to exceed that level.
Hanthawaddy International — to be located about 80 kilometres northeast of downtown Yangon — will be capable of handling about 12 million passengers a year, the South Korean Transport Ministry said. The consortium will build the airport by 2018.
AFP
