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Li Jia Xiang, head of China’s Civil Aviation Administration |
CHINA. The head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) Li Jia Xiang has confirmed that China is to accelerate its investment in airport infrastructure. At China’s annual congress conference earlier today Li answered questions from reporters on the country’s new airport developments, forming part of China’s 12th Five-Year Strategic Plan.
Li revealed that China is to build 72 new airports by 2015, the final year of the current Five-Year Strategic Plan. These airports include Tonghua and Yinkou in the country’s north-east region; Chengde, Zhangjiakou and Xingtai in the north; Shiyan and Xinyang Yueyang in central China; Jinchang, Shihezi and Zhangye in the west; and Qionghai and Honghe in the south. 17 airports will be completed by the end of this year, most of them mid- and small-size airports.
Li also announced a series of improvements to China’s larger airports between 2012 and 2015, confirming that a total of 101 airports are to be expanded or rebuilt. These include Harbin, Shenyang, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Changsha, Chongqing, Chengdu, Kunming and Xi’an. Renovation projects at 36 airports are due to be completed by the end of this year.
Li said CAAC was investing around RMB20 billion (US$3.17billion) annually to support regional airport infrastructure, although the main investment would be made by local governments.
Li served as President and Board Chairman of Air China before he was appointed head of CAAC and vice-minister at the Ministry of Transport in 2008. He has previously spoken of the need for China to develop its network of civil airports, of which it only operates 180 – a small number compared with other large countries such as the US and Brazil.
NOTE: Reporter Jianhong Yuan is the new Deputy Editor of The Moodie Report China, to be launched in the coming weeks in bi-lingual, e-Zine format.
A graduate of the University of Hubei, China as well as the University of Bath in the UK, Jianhong was formerly the Editor in Business of the Changjiang Times in Wuhan and a journalist specialising in economic and social affairs at the Wuhan Evening News. He has also worked for Southern Metropolitan News in Guangzhou and the Oriental Outlook Media Group in Shanghai. Jianhong can be contacted at Jian.Yuan@themoodiereport.com
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