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State-owned Myanmar National Airlines will start using Yangon International Airport’s new Terminal 1 for overseas flights on Sunday tomorrow, according to Yangon Aerodrome.
Terminal 1 was just completed this month under a contract awarded to Yangon Aerodrome, aimed at boosting the airport’s capacity.
MNA flies to Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong in addition to domestic cities.
The reinforced concrete and steel building is 240 metres long and 98 metres high. It has five storeys and a 100-metre sky link to the car park.
Arrivals and departures are in the basement, while passport control, security checks and departure gates are on the first floor. Shops are on the second floor and there is a recreation area on the third floor.
According to the airport development plan, Yangon Aerodrome will upgrade the airport to serve 6 million passengers annually. Without the new terminal, the airport could handle only 2.7 million per year. The new terminal was built on the land where the domestic terminal was located. It was approved by the Myanmar Investment Commission in August 2014 with an investment of about US$660 million (Bt23 billion). Yangon Aerodrome is a subsidiary of Asia World. |–Myanmar Eleven
Tun Myint, chairman of both companies, said recently that the airport could be further upgraded into an “airport city”.
“We plan to transform the airport to a commercial complex. It is just a dream right now. However, if respective ministries and the Myanmar Investment Commission allow our project, we can develop the airport into an airport city,” he said during the launch ceremony of a new building at the airport last Saturday.
Tun Myint said that to make it a city, the airport needed commercial buildings for cargo, logistics, offices, retail shops and hotels. - Myanmar Eleven

DEPUTY PM EYES PHI PHI’S WASTEWATER WOES
Phi Phi officials are looking to secure a multimillion-baht budget to plug the free flow of untreated wastewater into the sea.
Deputy Prime Minister Admiral Narong Pipatanasai visited the island yesterday to review a number of projects that the local administration plan to implement to stem the daily tide of 1,800 cubic metres of wastewater spewing into the marine park.
Ao Nang Administration Organisation president Pankum Kittithonkun suggested that the government invoke Article 44 of the interim charter to source the Bt600 million needed to resolve several infrastructure problems at the popular tourist destination. “If we don’t take immediate action, it may have dire consequences for the environment in the future,” Pankum said.
The meeting between officials and Narong comes fast on the heels of news that 83 per cent of the island’s wastewater is flowing directly into the ocean untreated.
“We proposed two projects in Ao Nang, including the construction of a wastewater treatment plant, as well as the installation of pipes to transfer wastewater into the plant,” Pankum said. “In Phi Phi we have proposed widening the pipes that transport wastewater into the Wastewater Collection and Constructed Wetland System already in place there.”
–Phuket Gazette

JAPAN INVESTS IN MYANMAR
Major Japanese firms are expanding their operations in Myanmar before the |new government takes power this month, according to Japan-based JiJi Press.
Mitsui & Co and Marubeni Corp have launched projects to produce agricultural fertilisers. Mitsui will invest 1.2 billion yen (Bt375 million) setting up a fertiliser plant in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone in cooperation with Singapore’s Behn Meyer and the Myanmar Agribusiness Public Corporation.
Meanwhile, Marubeni plans to begin fertiliser-processing operations in April 2017 |at a plant it is building with a domestic partner. Mitsubishi Corp, Itochu Corp and Sumitomo Corp are ramping up their |automobile-related businesses. The project is inspired by Tokyo’s Marunouchi business district.|–Myanmar Eleven