Suvarnabhumi to keep on growing until 2013
AMORNRAT MAHITTHIROOK
Santi: Two projects
to start this year |
The Transport Ministry is pushing ahead with a second-phase expansion of Suvarnabhumi airport with 10 projects worth 73 billion baht.
Suvarnabhumi airport was plagued with irregularities and operational problems when it opened in late September 2006.
Plans to expand the 1.5-year-old airport were raised at yesterday's meeting between Transport Minister Santi Prompat and representatives from Airports of Thailand (AoT) and the Civil Aviation Department.
Mr Santi said that at least two projects out of 10 under the scheme will be implemented this year. They are the construction of the third runway and hiring of the Project Management Consultant group (PMC).
The other projects which include the construction of an automated people mover, car park and a noise pollution reduction scheme will be implemented over five years.
Mr Santi said the meeting agreed that construction of a domestic terminal at Suvarnabhumi should proceed without waiting for the second phase.
The second domestic terminal, which would cost six billion baht, should relieve passenger traffic at the main terminal, he said.
A source said that under the original second-phase expansion scheme, five or six projects were planned, with an estimated cost of five billion baht.
The expansion scheme was put on hold by the interim Surayud Chulanont administration to save money. As a stop-gap measure, it decided to make further use of Don Mueang airport, which was closed after the opening of the new airport.
Don Mueang airport, closed in late September 2006, was partially reopened in March 2007 to accommodate non-connecting flights and alleviate traffic at Suvarnabhumi airport.
It had been expected that the use of Don Mueang would help absorb traffic and prolong the necessity to expand Suvarnabhumi. But the present government has decided to go ahead with expanding the new airport.
Besides operation troubles and construction flaws, Suvarnabhumi airport was also rife with corruption scandals involving the procurement of CTX bomb scanners and commercial leasehold space. The prospect of new expansion plans being undertaken has raised fears that the projects will lack transparency.
The source said the expansion scheme also sent a signal that the government was ready to close Don Mueang airport.
Mr Santi said yesterday the expansion scheme, which would be undertaken from 2008-2013, would enable Suvarnabhumi airport to serve 60 million passengers a year _ an increase from its present capacity of 45 million passengers a year.
He said the AoT would fund the expansion projects, adding that it has earned more than 10 billion baht from the management of Suvarnabhumi airport.
Civil Aviation Department chief Chaisak Angsuwan said the third runway will be equipped with an auto-landing system which is considered the safest which the aviation industry has to offer.
With an auto-landing system, aircraft could land even in low visibility conditions, said Mr Chaisak.
Runway safety is measured on a scale of one to three, three being the safest. Runways at regional airports are rated Category 1 while runways at Don Mueang and the existing runways at Suvarnabhumi are rated Category 2.
He said the department has also been assigned to survey land plots on the eastern side of the airport to accommodate the expansion project.
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