Yangon Airport upgrade starts without contract

 “The Civil Aviation Department has not signed the concession agreement yet as the Pioneer Aerodrome Consortium fails to submit some document,” said a high-ranking officer from the Civil Aviation Department. 

The upgrading of the airport has started even though there is no official signing of the concession agreement.

Under the Yangon International Airport development project, Pioneer Aerodrome Consortium will upgrade the Yangon International Airport, which now can serve 2.7 million passengers, to handle six million passengers. 

Pioneer Aerodrome Consortium on August 9 was named the bid winner. 

Criticisms followed, on possible corruption in the bidding process whereby Pioneer Aerodrome Consortium was one of six finalists.

The scorecards by Japanese experts who were hired to evaluate the bidders showed that in the total financial points ranking, Pioneer Aerodrome stood second with a total of 76 points after Toyota Tsusho Corp, which scored 90. Sojitz Corporation Consortium and Incheon Airport Consortium were ranked third and fourth with 76 and 66 points, respectively.

In the total technical points ranking, Pioneer Aerodrome was ranked sixth with 72 points. Incheon Airport Consortium stood in first place with 87.2 points, followed by Toyota Tsusho Corporation with 80.8 points. Sojitz Corp ranked fourth at 75.2 points.

In the grand total of financial and technical scores, Toyota Tsusho Corp stood first with 170.8 points, followed by Incheon Airport Consortium and Sojitz Corp, with 153.2 and 149.2 points, respectively. Pioneer Aerodrome was ranked fourth with 148 points.

Originally built in 1947, Yangon International Airport is one of the three international airports in Myanmar and is regarded as the major gateway to the country. As the country opens its door to the world, the airport has seen a dramatic increase in international arrivals. It is operated by Pioneer Aerodrome on a lease.

The Myanmar government has indicated that it intends to take serious action against corruption. After the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Committee in January last year, the anti-corruption law was enacted in August. 

According to Section 55 of the anti-corruption law, political officials convicted of corruption are subject to a maximum jail term of 15 years, as well as discretionary fines. Under Section 56, non-political officer holders in the public service who are convicted of corruption are subject to a 10-year maximum jail term as well as discretionary fines. The Anti-Corruption Committee and the Bureau of Special Investigation are mandated with fighting corruption according to the law.

To help ease the congestion at this airport, Myanmar is also planning to build a new international airport in Hantharwady which is expected to start operations in 2017. The Hantharwady International Airport in Bago is 80km from Yangon.