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Microcap & Penny Stocks : Largo Vista -Crown Jewel of China 1998 and Beyond! LGOV -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jmhollen who wrote (260)	6/3/2000 1:09:00 PM
From: jmhollen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 295

[LatelineNews: 2000-3-29] Guangzhou - China plans to build a new $2.3 billion international airport in Guangzhou, the capital of southern Guangdong province, challenging Hong Kong's role as the region's aviation gateway, Bloomberg News reported. Work on the new airport will start in late May and is expected to cost 18.8 billion yuan ($2.3 billion), said Liu Yang, a spokeswoman for the state-run group that's handling the project. The airport may seek to sell shares overseas to fund expansion, mirroring a global share sale by Beijing's airport authority. Guangzhou is about 80 miles further up the Pearl River estuary from Hong Kong, whose new airport opened less than two years ago. Hong Kong now serves as a hub for travel and cargo transport to and from Guangdong, China wealthiest province. Guangzhou's current airport ``cannot satisfy the huge market demand'' Liu said. ``This new airport will boost the economic growth in the Pearl River Delta.'' Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, the city's only airport, now handles about 30 million passengers per year and will be merged with the new airport, which will handle more than 80 million passengers annually. The Hong Kong airport can now handle 45 million passengers, though it says it could eventually double that capacity. ``There are a lot of people in the Pearl River Delta, and by building another airport it will just boost the overall demand for aviation services,'' said Chris Donnolley, a spokesman for the Hong Kong Airport Authority. ``The current airport definitely needed an upgrade.'' The Guangzhou project will be funded by a $300 million loan provided by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, while the China Development Bank and the Chinese government will provide the rest. An overseas share sale could come next. ``Our management has the goal of introducing the project to the world and we have a long-term plan'' for an overseas listing, Liu said. She didn't elaborate on timing. Chinese airports haven't stirred much investor interest so far. Beijing Capital Airport, the first Chinese airport to list outside China, tumbled by almost a third since it began trading in Hong Kong on Feb. 1. Its shares last traded at HK$1.35. Guangzhou officials remain unfazed. The first phase of construction, which will initially include two runways and one terminal, is expected to be finished in 2002, when formal operation will begin, said Xiao Qiming, another project spokesman. More runways and terminals may be added by 2010 depending on demand, though further details weren't disclosed. The project is to be constructed and managed by Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Guangdong's provincial government, and Guanzhou's city government. The new airport will be located about 20 miles outside Guangzhou. Some 20,000 people -- mostly farmers - have been relocated from the site of the new airport. ``The old airport is too close to the city,'' said Liu. In addition, construction of highways and a rail link to the airport will start next month.