Dalian, a port city in the northeast of China, is building the world’s largest on-sea airport, in an ambitious land reclamation project, although construction has started without official approval.
The new airport will cover an area of 20.87 square kilometers, big enough to accommodate an Airbus A380, and is expected to cost a total of 26.3 billion yuan (US$4.3 billion). It is designed to significantly reduce the shortage of airport capacity in the city.
However, according to reports, although the land reclamation work was scheduled to start on March 20 2012, it in fact began illegally in 2011.
“About a quarter of the reclamation work has been done. The rest is due to be completed by the end of this year or early next year,” an official from Dalian’s Development and Reform Commission said.
Any airport land reclamation project must be approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, and be evaluated by the Ministry of Environmental Protection before construction can start. However, no approval has been issued for the project so far.
The construction of the airport has also raised safety concerns. “ Frequent aircraft activity could easily cause cracks on the runway,” said Peng Qihua, executive vice-president of the aviation law branch of the Beijing Law Society .
[mappress]
Source: china.org.cn, September 3, 2013