Airport spending to take off

By Winny Wang  |   2008-11-13  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

CHINA will increase investments in aviation infrastructure to 450 billion yuan (US$66 billion) in the next two years to support the central government's recently announced stimulus package to boost domestic demand.

A total of 200 billion yuan will be invested next year, including in hub airports such as Chengdu, Xi'an and Guangzhou as well as more than 40 regional airports, said Li Jiaxiang, director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, in an interview yesterday.

Hub airports in Shanghai, Wuhan and Nanjing as well as 20 other regional airports will have their infrastructure expanded in 2010, Li said.

The central government has increased investments to 30 billion yuan this year in building and renovating civil airports in west China, and total infrastructure investments have reached 100 billion yuan, he said.

"The investments will play an important role in boosting domestic demand, enhancing safeguards and upgrading infrastructure to keep pace with the fast development of the aviation industry," he said.

CAAC's plan is also in line with the State Council's unveiling of a package of about 4 trillion yuan to be spent over the next two years to boost investment on airports, highways and other infrastructure through 2010. The package also proposes more aid to the poor and farmers and tax cuts for exporters.

"The administration has mapped out measures to boost domestic demand and accelerate construction to follow the State Council's requirement," Li said.