Foundation Stone Marks Start of Thailand's New International Airport by Phairath Khampha 20 January 2002 Thailand's King on January 19, 2001 laid the foundation stone of the Nong Ngu Hao airport passenger terminal. The new airport, named Suvarnabhumi airport by His Majesty, was expected to open some time in 2005. Designed by the Murphy Jahn/TAMS/ACT Consortium (MJTA), the airport is on a 20,000-rai (1 rai = 1,600 m2) plot of land in Samut Prakan's Bang Phli district. The project, as of the day of the ceremony, was 16% complete. Work on the passenger terminal began on December 1 by ITO Joint Venture Group, which won the bid on October 9. The 563,000-square-metre terminal complex, plagued by corruption and other nefarious deeds by politicians and officials, would have the capacity to handle 8,550 passengers an hour or 43 million a year. The terminal would have seven floors and a basement in its 182,000-square-metre area. Its structure will be made of steel and glass. The airplane terminal would have four floors and a basement in its 381,000-square-metre area. Its structure will be made of steel while its roof will be built from glass and fibre. The laying of the foundation stone could mark a new beginning for the Nong Ngu Hao airport project which has been mired in problems since its inception in 1960. It won cabinet approval in 1991 and New Bangkok International Airport Company was set up in 1996 with registered capital of 10 billion baht. The project was, as of the beginning of 2002, worth 120-140 billion baht (1 US Dollar = 44.04 Thai Baht). Of the 50-billion-baht capital, about 45 billion baht came from the Airports Authority of Thailand, 4.25 billion baht from the Finance Ministry, and the rest from loans. It took about 30 years for agencies to find an appropriate site. Long-time controversies over the corrupt bidding for the design and landfill followed. Many politicians and senior officials involved in the project were involved in the corruption. The national anti-graft commission in late December found former NBIA managing director Priti Hatrakul, his deputy Pramuan Hutasing and assistant Permsak Pattanapong guilty of corruption. The government hoped to turn the airport into a regional aviation hub, though that would no doubt depend on its ability to keep down charges, which in turn depend on whether costs come in on budget. Given the amount of corruption that goes on in Thailand, that is very likely to happen.