Beijing is keen to start building a new airport before 2010, but experts cannot see eye to eye on where the airport should be located.

Many commentators say the new airport should be built in the 32-county poverty belt that surrounds the national capital and Tianjin, so that the 2.7 million poor people living there can benefit from the economic activity generated by the new facility.

The General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) confirmed that it has a construction schedule for the new airport but that no decision has yet been taken concerning its location.

The three sites in contention for the new airport are Wuqing in Tianjin Municipality, and Zhuozhou and Langfang in Hebei, the province that surrounds Beijing.

Professor Wu Liangyong from Tsinghua University's School of Architecture recommends Beijing build its second international airport in Tianjin's Wuqing district.

"I believe Wuqing will be an appropriate choice both from the point of regional development and safety," says Wu, member of the Chinese Academy of Science and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, in a news report carried in the latest issue of the China Economic Weekly published by the People's Daily.

But Yang Kaizhong, professor and deputy head of the Capital Development Institute of Peking University, thinks otherwise.

"Locating the new airport in the area north of Zhuozhou in Hebei will work better in terms of harmonious development of the entire Beijing-Tianjing-Hebei region, and will contribute to balanced urban development in Beijing, especially the development of the southern part of the city," says Yang.

Dr. Hu Zhanlue with Tehua Post-Doctorate Work Station recommends Langfang City as an ideal place for the new Beijing airport because of its favorable geographic conditions.

Dr. Hu's suggestion is contradicted by Professor Sun Jiuwen with the Regional Economy and Urban Administration Institute of Beijing-based Renmin University of China.

"I visited Langfang several times. It was foggy almost everyday, so I don't think Langfang is a good place for locating a new Beijing airport," says Sun, "As far as the new Beijing airport is concerned, we should set our eyes on the post-2010 development of the whole Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei region and take the poverty belt surrounding Beijing and Tianjin into consideration."

According to Sun's regional development perspective, Binhai airport in Tianjin would specialize in air cargo, a new Beijing airport located in the Tianjin-Beijing-Hebei border area would focus on international air services and the existing capital airport would handle domestic air travel.

An official with the transportation division of the State Development and Reform Commission says the overriding purpose of the new Beijing airport is to contribute to economic development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region as a whole.

"Site selection is not yet on our agenda, but we are listening to opinions from specialists and will submit a well-considered plan to the central government for approval," says the official in an interview with China Economic Weekly.

Beijing's Capital International Airport can currently handle 35 million passengers a year following a major expansion project completed in September 1999 and will soon boost this figure to 60 million.

But the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games will put Capital Airport under a lot of pressure. It is estimated that 5.56 million passengers will transit by the airport during the Olympic Games, equivalent to about 54 million passengers annually.

The Beijing Municipality infrastructure development plan for the 11th five-year-plan period (2006-2010), released a month ago, states that construction of the second Beijing international airport will begin before 2010.

The new airport will be able to handle 80-100 million passengers, plus five million tons of cargo annually.

(Xinhua News Agency November 13, 2006)