Guangzhou Starts to Build New AirportConstruction of the terminal building of New Guangzhou Baiyun Airport has begun in Huadu city, which has just merged into Guangzhou Municipality.Supporting facilities such as a special highway connecting the construction site, power and water supply facilities are ready in service, and the construction of two control towers also started, sources said. The new airport will be built in several stages with designs provided by Parsons Corp. and URS Greiner Corp, two U.S. firms, and the Guangdong Provincial Architectural Design Institute. The airport will cover an area of 1,456 hectares, about four times the area of the current Baiyun Airport. The current Baiyun airport in the near suburbs of Guangzhou is the country's busiest airport, and has long been overburdened by increasing passengers and cargoes. The new airport is expected to cost a total of 20 billion yuan (about US$2.4 billion), 49 percent of which will be covered by the Guangzhou Transport Investment Co. Ltd.. By 2010, when the airport is completed, it will be able to handle 80 million arrivals and departures and one million tons of cargo annually. The first-phase construction will cost about 10 billion yuan (about US$1.2 billion) and will be completed in late 2002. |
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