Myanmar names airport developer

04 Nov 2014  2034 | World Travel News

YANGON A Japanese-Singaporean joint venture has won the contract to build the USD1.5 billion Hanthawaddy International Airport located north of Yangon.
The Irrawaddy news channel reported that the bid winner — a consortium comprised of Singaporean firms Yongnam Holdings Ltd. and Changi Airport Planners and Engineers (CAPE), as well as Japan’s JGC Corporation — was announced at a press conference held at the Aerospace Engineering University in Yangon last week.
The contract for the airport was put out to tender in February 2013 for the first time, but was re-opened for tender a year later after the government was unhappy with the terms proposed by the initial tender winner.
inside no 1Incheon Airport Consortium, a South Korean conglomerate, won the first tender in August 2013, but negotiations on lending terms for the project broke down and the government rescinded on the contract.
Incheon had estimated the value of the project at more than USD1.5 billion, and said it would apply for a loan of more than USD1 billion, nearly 70% of the project’s value, with an interest rate of more than 7%. The Korean consortium planned to implement the project on condition that the government agreed to put up collateral on behalf of Incheon to guarantee the loan.
Yongnam-CAPE-JGC Consortium has estimated the project value at about USD1.45 billion and said it would request a loan of USD706 million, at a low interest rate from the Japanese government’s aid arm, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The consortium will seek another USD517 million loan at an interest rate of 4% from private lenders, while investing USD222 million of its own funds to implement the project. The consortium has not asked the Myanmar government to put up guarantee for any of the loans.
The Civil Aviation Department general director, Win Swe Tun, was quoted as saying that the latter’s offer was more attractive to the country government and reduced the risk for the nation.
“Comparing the two, Incheon wanted the government to put up collateral. But the government can’t adopt that position for a private company. So, the deal was cancelled and we selected Yongnam.”
Yongnam said it would take around four years to construct the airport and the airport should open in December 2019, he added.
Hanthawaddy International Airport will be located at the site of an old airport near the town of Pegu, about 50 miles north of Yangon.
Yangon International Airport lacks available space for a major expansion and the government says a new international airport is needed as the country welcomes more tourists and business visitors.
Upon completion, Hanthawaddy International Airport will have the capacity to handle 12 million travellers a year. Yangon International Airport is also being upgraded and will be able to handle up to 6 million travellers a year when the expansion is complete in 2016.
However, there will be three critical years when Yangon airport’s capacity will be stretched to accommodate growth until the new airport opens and takes over the role as the main gateway.

sourced:ttrweekly.com 

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