China's First Airport Built by Farmers OperationalChina's first airport built with investments from farmers was recently put into operation in Pinggu County of Beijing.The Rongdong Airport, 80 kilometers northeast of downtown Beijing, was built with a total investment of 3.5 million yuan ( some 420,000 US dollars) from 700 households in Heidouyu Village of Pinggu. According to local civil aviation administration officials, the airport's runway, 500 meters long and 19 meters wide, is capable of handling takeoffs and landings of Yun-5, a small-sized cargo plane made in China for agricultural use. The airport has been given permit to operate by the North China Branch of the Civil Aviation Administration of China in early June, the officials said. As agricultural production developed rapidly in recent years, local farmers used to lease small planes for spraying pesticide and air sowing. However, this cost them expensively. So, they reached consensus in 1998 to build an airport of their own to provide better services in agricultural production. |
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