A new international airport will be built in Cambodia

A new terminal will be located 60 kilometers from Siemripa.

Cambodia, Phnom Penh, January 12 – Cambodian government has approved a plan to build a new international airport Siemripa.

According to Yoon Hyung, one of the leaders of the Council for Development of Cambodia, the Prime Minister Hun Sen signed an order where the plan to build a new international airport near Siemripa was approved.

The new airport will be build by the company NSIA. This is a joint venture between two South Korean companies: Camco Airport Company and Lees A & A Company.

Project cost is $ 1 billion. The construction is to begin in February 2011, wrote «The Phnom Penh Post».

The new airport will be located 60 kilometers from Siemripa. It will be able to serve up to 16 million passengers a year and take big long-haul aircrafts.

Besides, authorities point out that the new airport will be located away from the temples of Angkor, which means that aircraft during takeoff and landing will not harm the ancient structures.

French company Société Concessionaire des Aéroports (SCA), which manages all three international airports in Cambodia (Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville and Siemrip), questioned the feasibility of such a large-scale construction projects.

“existing airport does not harm the temples and can take aircrafts with flight range of 10 thousand kilometers” – said Nicolas Deville, CEO of SCA.