Hong Kong International airport, one of the finest in the world, finished its construction completely after the opening of the passenger terminal Northwest concourse on January 20.

The opening of the concourse marked a construction milestone atHong Kong International Airport (HKIA), and positioned the airportto contribute to Asia's economic revival at the start of the new century, said Fung Kwok-king, chairman of the Hong Kong Airport Authority (HKAA) at the opening ceremony of the 2.1 billion HK-dollar structure on January 20.

"This new concourse raises the airport's handling capacity to 45 million passengers a year - more than adequate to meet our immediate and future needs, including the expected increase in traffic from the Disneyland Project in 2005, " said Fung.

The new concourse is about 300 meters long and adds 34,000 square meters of floor space, bringing total floor area to 550,000square meters for the passenger terminal, which was already one ofthe largest buildings of its type in the world. Now, more than 60 airlines connect Hong Kong to over 120 destinations around the world.

Commenting on the newly completed airport, Donald Tsang, financial secretary of Hong Kong SAR, said it was the epitome of Hong Kong's can-do spirit - a mind-set that overcomes seemingly impossible obstacles to get things done.

Fung added that in addition to its contribution to tourism - Hong Kong's second largest income earner - air cargo was playing arapidly expanding role in the local and regional economy.

For several years, Hong Kong has been the world's busiest center for international air cargo. In 1999, the airport processed just under 2 million tons, an increase of 21.4 percent over the previous year.

"We are poised to harness the potential of the information economy generated by high-tech communications and electronic commerce. We will also take advantage of the opportunities arisingfrom China's impending entry into the World Trading Organization," he added.