New International Airport to be built by Japanese group

Ministry of Road and Transportation informed at a recent press conference that they have received a detailed cooperation proposal including a quote from the contractor to build the new airport in Ulaanbaatar.

Following the soft loan agreement signed by Mongolian government and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation in 2008, feasibility studies and design work were c completed by Japanese companies “Azusa Sekkei” and “Oriental Consulting” in years 2009-2011. As stated in the agreement, the construction work will be executed by Japanese companies once the design stage is over.

Ministry of Road and Transportation announced a tender last year to select the construction company to implement the project in Mongolia, with a deadline of November 19, 2012. According to N.Enkhbat, leader of the new international airport project, a cooperation proposal was received from Japan’s Mitsubishi Chiyoda group. He noted that it is not possible to disclose the proposed pricing at this time. However, we will first internally discuss the offer in accordance with JICA’s procurement policies, and will later inform the public, he added.

It is planned that the new airport will be built with a 40 year loan from Japan. There would be no interest to be paid in the first 10 years, and an annual interest of 0.2% will be paid on the loan for the remaining 30 years.

The new airport will be located in the Hoshigt Valley (Хөшигтийн хөндий) in Tuv Province, and the project would be completed in 43 months. The construction work commences in April 2013.

Once put into operation in October 2016 as it is currently planned, the airport will have the capacity to handle 3 million passengers annually. However, it should be noted that project engineers have considered future expansions, and reserved land and infrastructure that would be required to increase the capacity up 12 million passengers a year.