Suvarnabhumi runway repair to cost 2.5 billion baht

BANGKOK, May 23 (TNA) -- Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) will spend 2.5 billion baht on repairing runways, taxiways and taxilanes of Suvarnabhumi airport in three years. AoT president Nitinai Sirismatthakarn said the project was a long-term solution to damaged runways, taxiways and taxilanes because it would replace their asphaltic materials with portland concrete. The long-term repair will cover a total area of about 700,000 square meters. It will start late next year and take three years for completion, he said. Mr Nitinai attributed the damage to heavy traffic at the country’s main airport. He said that the original asphaltic ways were designed to automatically drain water under them with the pressure of the asphaltic layers created by the weights and impacts of visiting aircraft. Heavy traffic later prevented the resilience of the asphaltic layers and thus blocked the drainage, he said. Temporary repair was underway at 21 damaged spots and the task would finish in August. Suvarnabhumi airport was designed to handle 45 million passengers a year but its present traffic amounted to 60 million people a year, Mr Nitinai said. (TNA)