| 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.
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