Construction will start in 2010 and be completed in 2015, China News Agency quoted Zhang Gong, chief of the Beijing Development and Reform Commission, as saying in March.
With three terminals, the existing capital airport has a designed capacity of handling 76 million passengers and 1.8 million tons of cargo a year by 2015. The third terminal, built at cost of 27 billion yuan (US$3.97 billion) and opened last year, is the largest and most advanced in the country.
Ta Kung Pao reported that the new airport would be developed into an airport hub that can handle 60 million passengers.
It also said that since residents in Lixian town heard the news in January, they began building more houses in order to get more compensation when they relocate.
The idea for the facility emerged in 2002, after Beijing won the rights to host the 2008 Olympic Games, but in 2003 it was decided that the Capital International Airport would be expanded to relieve the pressure at the time of the Games.
The location of the second airport had turned into a contentious issue, as authorities in Tianjin municipality and Hebei province wanted the new airport to be built in their regions.
-- (China Daily, Apr.15, 2009)
