Construction of a new airport in southwest China's Sichuan Province is underway.
The Airport will link two of China's most popular tourist areas, Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong and will also connect the Songpan Grassland with Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province.
Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong are famous for their clean and colorful lakes, natural forests and beautiful landscape and up to 1.2 million Chinese and overseas tourists visit them annually.
Both areas are listed with the United Nation's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as one of the world's natural heritage treasures and are members of the international biosphere network.
A provincial government official says the new airport will make it possible to form a direct air traffic network between Sichuan and other tourist cities in western China such as Kunming, Xi'anand Lanzhou,
The Jiuzhai-Huanglong Airport will cost 777 million yuan to be provided by the State Development Bank and the governments of Kuwait and Sichuan Province. It is expected to be open by September 2003.
(eastday.com March 24, 2002)
