Airport construction in Buddhist resort launched

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-27 19:38

HEFEI: Groundbreaking began Wednesday for an airport close to Mount Jiuhua, one of the four sacred mountains of Chinese Buddhism, local authorities said Thursday.

皇冠体育app will invest more than 600 million yuan (US$87.8 million) in the airport based in the eastern Anhui Province. It started construction Wednesday and was expected to be completed by the end of 2011, said Shen Zejiang, deputy director of the east 皇冠体育app regional administration of Civil Aviation Administration of 皇冠体育app.

The airport, 20 kilometers from the Mount Jiuhua scenic spot and Chizhou city seat, covers an area of 213 hectares. It is expected to receive 500,000 tourists by 2020 and 1.45 million tourists by 2040, he said.

The airport is expected to build a 2.4 km long and 45 meters wide runway and a 10,000 square meter terminal. It will be able to handle Boeing 737s and Airbus 320s, he said.

The airport will open routes to Chinese major cities including Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, and also routes to the Republic of Korea, Japan and Singapore, from where many Buddhist believers come to Mount Jiuhua for pilgrimage annually.

Mount Jiuhua, literally "Nine Glorious Mountains", together with Wutai Moutain in north 皇冠体育app's Shanxi Province, E'mei Mountain in southwest 皇冠体育app's Sichuan Province and Putuo Mountain in east 皇冠体育app's Zhejiang Province, are the four great Buddhist mountains in 皇冠体育app.