Mizzima News

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Naypyitaw airport in Burma's new jungle capital is to be revamped to international standards where transportation and communication facilities will be upgraded to facilitate the travel of military rulers to their homes.

A foreign and a domestic firm have been contracted for the renovation.  The two firms Asia World and the Singapore based CPG Consultant Pte. Ltd. will be taking up the task of renovating and expanding the airport in Nyapyitaw, Burma’s new jungle capital, to an international airport.

Sources said, the existing airport in the bunker capital of the military generals is small and does not have the werewithal to allow landing of big commercial aircraft.

The airport will be renovated and expanded in three phases. The first phase will include expanding the airport’s terminal where it can handle up to 3.5 million passengers a year.

While the first phase of the proposal is known, it is still not clear what the other two phases include.

Asia World Co. and CPG Consultant Pte. Ltd. are expected to jointly work only in the first phase of the project.

The Burmese junta envisages that after the completion of the project, the Naypyitaw airport will be bigger than other international airports in Burma – that is Rangoon and Mandalay’s Tada Oo airports.

Asia World Co. is owned by the junta’s crony and business tycoon Tun Myint Naing, who is the son of former drug warlord Lo Hsing Han. Tun Myint Naing also known as Stephen Law, is among the many individuals on whom sanctions have been imposed by the United States for supporting the military junta financially.

CPG is a multi-national company dealing in infrastructure development and management work in the Asia-Pacific region.

With over 2,000 employees the company is into consultation work in China’s Shanghai and in India for infrastructure development projects besides management, architectural designing and laboratory work.