Siem Reap New Airport is expected to be completed in 2023

According to the Secretary of State of the Cambodian Civil Aviation Authority (SSCA), Mao Havannall, the new airport project under construction in SotNikum County, Siem Reap Province, northwestern Cambodia is expected to be completed by 2023.

The total investment of the Siem Reap new airport project is US $ 880 million. In 2017, China's Yunnan Investment Holding Group signed a 55-year BOT contract with the Cambodian government. The construction project is implemented by Angkor International Airport Investment Company (AIAI).

Construction works are carried out in three phases, and the first phase of the project started in March. A total of USD 500 million was invested in Phase I and Phase II projects. After the completion of the Phase I project, the annual passenger throughput of the new airport will increase to 7 million passengers. SSCA said that the airport's annual passenger throughput capacity is expected to increase to 10 million passengers by 2030 and to 20 million passengers by 2050.

The new airport is 51 kilometers away from the center of Siem Reap (about 50 kilometers away from the old airport in Siem Reap), 40 kilometers away from the World Heritage Angkor Ruins and covers an area of about 700 hectares. In July last year, Shanxi Mechanization Construction Group of Shanxi Province, China received an order for a new airport construction project at a price of US $ 42.16 million. The construction includes the construction of a new 4E-level runway, taxiway, apron, terminal building, and airport ancillary works.

The existing passenger throughput capacity of Siem Reap Airport is almost saturated. Because it is only 5 kilometers away from the Angkor sites, people have worried that if the existing airport is renovated and expanded, and the vibrations caused by aircraft take-off and landing, it will inevitably affect the foundation of the ancient site, which is not conducive to the protection of the ancient site. (Jianhua Daily)