U-Tapao airport terminal will be ready as scheduled despite tight deadline: Stecon
Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction (Stecon) will start designing U-Tapao Airport’s terminal building now that U-Tapao International Aviation (UTA) has earmarked Bt1.8 billion for the project, said Pakpoom Srichamni, Stecon’s president and executive director.
UTA was set up by the BBS Joint Venture Group as the central agency responsible for U-Tapao International Airport and Eastern Airport City projects after the group won the bid last year.
The joint venture comprises Bangkok Airways, with a 45 per cent stake, BTS Group Holdings (35 per cent) and Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction (20 per cent).
“We are ready to start the construction as soon as we receive the notice to proceed [NTP] from UTA, which we expect will be in early 2022,” Pakpoom said.
“We are working on a detailed design and levelling the ground for the terminal building with the help of foreign partners, so we can start construction immediately once the NTP comes through.”
Pakpoom added that Stecon could not wait until the NTP arrives to start the design process because the deadline for the project is tight at three years. The construction of terminal buildings for other airports normally takes five years.
“Even if the NTP is delayed until mid-2022, we are still confident that construction will be finished as planned, as we are working on what can be done right now,” he said.
He added that UTA is now reviewing the master plan, which will be submitted to the Eastern Economic Corridor Policy Committee for approval by June this year.