AoT scraps controversial airport design
published : 21 Feb 2019 at 08:38
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Post Reporters
Airports of Thailand Plc's (AoT) board on Wednesday approved a 42-billion-baht plan to build a second terminal at Suvarnabhumi airport, but it scrapped a blueprint for the terminal's design.
AoT president Nitinai Sirismatthakarn said the board decided to scrap the winning design as it may not sufficiently cater to the needs of those using the terminal.
The design was created by DBALP Consortium, headed by local architect Duangrit Bunnag.
The AoT's decision to green-light the extra terminal has put plans to expand the airport back on track.
Construction was shelved late last year following criticism from several organisations, including high-profile professional associations such as the Council of Engineers and the Architects Council of Thailand.
They said the terminal was scheduled to be built in an undesirable location, which deviated from the original Suvarnabhumi airport master plan approved in 2003.
The original plan included two terminals -- the existing northern terminal and an identical one located slightly south.
However, the AoT later adjusted its plan by adding a second additional terminal, which the ToR refers to as Terminal 2.
That means the originally planned second terminal, which also has yet to be built, would become Terminal 3. It is expected to be put in place within the next few years.
The new Terminal 2 will be constructed on a 400,000-square-metre plot at a cost of 42 billion baht, with completion slated for 2021.
Meanwhile, the AoT will soon announce the terms of an upcoming auction for duty-free and retail concessions at Suvarnabhumi airport.
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Vocabulary
- auction: a usually public sale of goods or property, where people make higher and higher bids (= offers of money) for each thing, until the thing is sold to the person who will pay most - การขายโดยการประมูล, การขายทอดตลาด
- cater to: to try to satisfy a need - จัดหามาเพื่อคนใดคนหนึ่งหรือคนกลุ่มหนึ่ง
- concession: a right that is given to a person or group to do a particular activity - สัมปทาน
- criticism: comments that show that you think something is wrong or bad - การวิจารณ์
- deviate (verb): to be different from something; to do something in a different way from what is usual or expected - ซึ่งเบี่ยงเบน, ซึ่งออกนอกเส้นทาง
- green light: permission to go ahead and do something that you are waiting to do -
- identical: exactly the same, or very similar - เหมือนกัน, แบบเดียวกัน
- scrap: to get rid of; to stop using or accepting - เลิก, ทิ้ง
- shelve: to decide not to use something such as a plan or suggestion now, although you may use it later - เลื่อนไปก่อน
- slate: to plan that something will happen at a particular time in the future - วางแผนสำหรับสิ่งที่จะเกิดขึ้นในาในอนาคต
- sufficiently: having enough of something - เพียงพอ
- undesirable (adj): not wanted -
