MYANMAR is sourcing for local and foreign investors to fund development of a second airport serving the country’s largest city Yangon, as it gears up for an influx of tourists in the wake of political reforms.
Located 77km north of Yangon, near the city of Bago, the planned Hanthawaddy International Airport will occupy approximately 3,642 hectares, an area nine times the size of Yangon International Airport.
Hanthawaddy will be the country’s fourth airport suited to handling international flights, after Yangon, Mandalay and the capital Naypyitaw.
Construction work on the new airport, which originally began in 1994 but ceased in 2003, is slated to pick up again next June. Due to be completed by 2016, Hanthawaddy is anticipated to handle up to 10 million passengers a year.
Meanwhile, Yangon International Airport is currently undergoing an expansion that will boost its handling capacity from 2.7 million to 3.8 million passengers a year by end-2012 or early-2013 (TTG Asia e-Daily, August 19, 2011).
