[ad_1]
AP | | Posted by Zarafshan Shiraz, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Industrial operations started Monday at Cambodia’s latest and largest airport, designed to function an upgraded gateway to the nation’s main vacationer attraction, the centuries-old Angkor Wat temple complicated within the northwestern province of Siem Reap.
A Bangkok Airways flight from Thailand was the primary to land, with 16 further flights scheduled for the primary day of operations on the Siem Reap-Angkor Worldwide Airport.
The airport, which was constructed at a price of about $1.1 billion on 700 hectares (1,730 acres) of land about 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Angkor Wat, boasts a 3,600-meter (11,810-foot) lengthy runway. Building started in 2020 to exchange the previous airport, about 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from the temple website, which is being retired partly due to concern that vibrations from frequent flights had been damaging the temples’ foundations.
The brand new airport can deal with 7 million passengers a yr, with plans to reinforce it to deal with 12 million passengers yearly from 2040. It was constructed beneath a 55-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) program between Cambodia and China.
In accordance with the Ministry of Tourism, Cambodia obtained some 3.5 million worldwide vacationers within the first eight months of 2023, whereas for the entire of 2019 — the final yr earlier than the coronavirus pandemic — it obtained some 6.6 million overseas guests. Tourism is taken into account one of many predominant pillars supporting Cambodia’s financial system.
Deputy Prime Minister Vongsey Vissoth, who headed the ceremony marking the beginning of operations, mentioned the brand new airport will probably be formally inaugurated on Nov. 16 by Prime Minister Hun Manet and prime Chinese language officers.
One other Chinese language-funded airport is being constructed at a price of $1.5 billion to serve the capital Phnom Penh. The brand new Phnom Penh worldwide airport, formally often known as the Techo Worldwide Airport, is about on 2,600 hectares (6,425 acres) and scheduled for completion in 2024.
Subscribe at present by clicking the hyperlink and keep up to date with the newest information!” Click on right here!