Japanese engineering company JGC and partners have taken another step toward a contract for a new international airport near the city.
A consortium including JGC and a unit of Changi Airport Group (Singapore) will likely sign a memorandum of understanding with the Myanmar government as early as this month.
Hanthawaddy International Airport, estimated at a total of 100 billion yen ($844 million) or more, will likely mark the biggest Myanmar project yet in which a Japanese company takes part.
The airport will have a planned annual capacity of some 12 million passengers and is slated to open around 2022. It will complement the existing Yangon International Airport as a new gateway to the Southeast Asian country.
The government has held auctions since 2013 for construction and operation of the airport. The consortium obtained preferential negotiating rights in the autumn of 2014. Signing of the official contract will follow the memorandum signing. The consortium and the government will now work out details of construction plans.
Japan’s official development assistance program may be tapped to fund the project.
More foreigners have been visiting Myanmar since it began to democratize in the spring of 2011, making airport infrastructure development an urgent task.
Source: http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/JGC-consortium-on-way-to-building-Yangon-area-airport