By Hanan Al-Qaysi (with photos)
KUWAIT, Dec 21 (KUNA) -- Directorate General of the Civil Aviation's (DGCA) projects department issued studies for undergoing expansion and development of Kuwait International Airport during the past years, under the supervision of specialized consultative bureaus.
Chairman of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's projects department, Mahdi Saleh Al-Dakheel told KUNA on Sunday, that three specialized bureaus in France, Netherland and Germany participated in the preparation of the study, in cooperation with Kuwaiti governmental sectors including, the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Public Works and the Municipality.
He added that many issues were discussed during the preparation process, including safety issues, traffic and environment, clarifying that all participating bodies were in agreement on all project components.
He added that the current location of the airport was chosen by and International consultants upon the recommendations of the International Organization for Civil Aviation.
On the issue of the possibility of relocating the airport away from residential areas to curb any terror attempts, he stated, "Kuwait is a secure and safe country".
He clarified that the airport site includes several oil fields that are well protected, in addition that the airport location lies within the main lines of electricity, water, oil and gas, in addition to the plane fuel network, therefore the process of transforming the airport location into a residential area would cost greatly.
In 2004, the DGCA signed an agreement with a German consultant bureau to submit a study on the airport expansion project, which was thoroughly studied in terms of location, the country's aviation policies, future governmental plans concerning transport, in addition to the issue of aviation industries.
The result of this study was presented to the Kuwaiti Cabinet in October 2005, where it was approved.
Al-Dakheel said that the current location of the airport allows additional construction and expansion.
He added that the Amiri Decree 255/2008 has approved the state's infrastructure which included airport expansion to enable it receive 55 million passengers till the year 2030.
He also criticized several suggestions calling for transforming the airport grounds into residential areas that would contain more than 40,000 lands plots. Al-Dakheel stressed that there were many other locations in the country that could be invested in such projects.
Al-Dakheel affirmed that expansion and development projects of the airport are well underway, including the third runway and the expansion of the current two runways.
Copyright Kuwait News Agency 2008.
