Nope, that extra international airport being built ridiculously far away from Yangon isn’t coming anytime soon.
Completion of Hanthawaddy International Project, in Bago Region and about a 90-minute drive from the commercial capital, has been pushed back to 2022 due to lack of funds.
This is roughly the billionth time the $1.5 billion project – which was supposed to be ready by 2018, and then 2020 – has been delayed.
We’re only slightly exaggerating – work began in 1994.
Japan’s JGC Corporation and Singaporean Yongnam and Changi Airport Planners and Engineering won the tender last year.
The reason for the problems this time? There have been hold-ups in obtaining the Official Development Assistance loans needed, according to a report in government-run newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar.
The airport is expected to handle up to 12 million travelers per year but has faced criticism over its ludicrous distance from Yangon and the decrepit state of the road there.
Almost 4.5 million tourists flew into Myanmar last year, and 7 million are expected next year.
Design of airport in Bago / GLNM
