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[burmanet2-l] ST-Myanmar's new airp
Subject: Re: [burmanet2-l] ST-Myanmar's new airport still empty after six months
TIN KYI wrote:
>
> The Straits Times
> JAN 12 2000
>
> Myanmar's new airport still empty after
> six months
>
> Cost $250m, boasts 4.2-km runway,
> high-tech control tower, 36 check-in
> counters, but...
>
> The miracle cure for its economic ills has
> been thwarted by funding hitches and
> Western trade sanctions so far, but a Thai
> firm hopes to change that
>
> By JAMES EAST
> IN BANGKOK
>
> STANDING on a plain outside Myanmar's
> second city sits the ghost town of
> South-east Asia's airline industry -- an
> empty gleaming US$150 million (S$250
> million) international airport capable of
> handling three million passengers a year.
>
> Mandalay International Airport is a
> technological marvel in a country famed
> for its ox-cart transport, crumbling
> colonial buildings and its tin-pot
> economy.
>
> But despite being finished for six months,
> not one tourist plane has roared down its
> 4.2-km runway nor a single passenger
> passed through its glassed and
> golden-roofed terminal building.
>
> Few outside Myanmar know of the existence
> of the airport, built 35 km south-west of
> its second city and on the fringes of
> Pagan, the most exquisite temple complex
> in South-east Asia outside of Cambodia's
> Angkor Wat.
>
> Built with help from Thai construction
> firm Italian-Thai Development Company, the
> top of the range airport in Mandalay
> boasts a longer runway than Bangkok, a
> sophisticated control tower able to handle
> 45,000 aircraft movements annually and a
> fully mechanised passenger terminal with
> 36 check-in counters.
>
> The pet project of Prime Minister Than
> Shwe, it was to have been a miracle cure
> for the country's economic ills, bringing
> in Boeing 747s full of tourists and
> millions of dollars of desperately needed
> foreign aid.
>
> But trade sanctions imposed by Western
> nations and funding difficulties have
> until now put paid to the government's
> dream.
>
> But this week, Thailand's Thai Airports
> Ground Services (TAGS) hopes to change all
> that.
>
> TAGS expects to win a 28-year operations
> concession to run the airport.
>
> TAGS president Anuphong Rojnuckarin says:
> "The airport is ready but they do not have
> the ground equipment. The airport hasn't
> opened because they don't have the capital
> or the know-how."
>
> Mr Anuphong knows the difficulties but
> adds: "I'm a gambler but a safe one."
>
> He believes his high level contacts with
> the government -- meeting Deputy Minister
> of Transport Kyaw Myint and Department of
> Civil Aviation chief Win Maung as well as
> gaining Myanmar Cabinet approval -- will
> help ensure the venture's success.
>
> In Thailand, the deal is being brokered by
> businessman Maung Maung Gyi Al Haj, a
> former classmate of Myanamar's most
> powerful man, military intelligence chief
> Khin Nyunt.
>
> Sitting at TAGS' headquarters at Bangkok
> International Airport, Mr Maung Maung
> says: "I don't think politics is a major
> issue at present. Compromise is what is
> needed. Let the people come in and
> naturally things will change."
>
> TAGS is now searching the world for the
> equipment needed to run the airport,
> having received a loan of US$2 million
> from Thailand's Exim Bank.
>
> Aircraft tugs, tractors and loaders will
> be shipped to Myanmar's capital Yangon and
> trucked on to Mandalay.
>
> Mr Anuphong says Exim is anxious to see a
> return on the US$150 million loan it has
> already ploughed into the airport
> terminal.
>
> Once open, Mandalay will be Myanmar's main
> international airport challenging Bangkok,
> Malaysia and Singapore as a hub for
> South-east Asian and Chinese traffic.
>
> The old domestic airport at Mandalay will
> be shut and direct flights will be laid on
> from Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, and
> Bangkok.
>
> Travel companies have already promised
> charter flights of French tourists and
> scheduled flights have been pledged by
> China Airlines, Japan's All Nippon Airways
> and Thailand's Angel Air.
>
> TAGS hopes to cater to 98 flights a week,
> rising by 20 per cent a year over the
> following four years. But human rights
> groups and exiled groups of students are
> certain to oppose any dealings with
> Myanmar and the opening of the airport.
>
> Bangkok-based pro-democracy group
> Alt-Asean-Burma coordinator Debbie
> Stothard says: "We have always opposed
> tourism because it benefits the regime
> more than the people."
>
> The ruling generals have no clue how to
> run the economy in a way that is
> attractive to foreign investors. "Many
> investors go wrong in a very short time in
> Burma," she warns.
>
> ----------------------
>
> Discouraging visitors and investment
>
> TO WESTERN governments, Myanmar is a
> pariah state; its opposition leader Nobel
> Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi
> discourages foreign investment or visits
> by tourists; and the government is
> notoriously unpredictable in international
> relations.
>
> In a recent tiff with Thailand, Myanmar
> shut its borders and banned fishermen from
> its waters following Thailand's failure to
> capture a gang of hostage takers who fled
> after seizing the Myanmar Embassy in
> Bangkok in October.