Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has signed an ODA loan agreement totalling Y44.852bn with the Kingdom of Thailand for the Second Bangkok International Airport Development Project (VI) being implemented by New Bangkok International Airport Company Limited (NBIA).

The loan will finance the sixth phase of the Second Bangkok International Airport Development Project in which an international airport is being constructed in Nong Ngu Hao, Samut Prakan Province, 30km east of Bangkok. The main facilities of the airport will be terminals capable of handling 45mn passengers and 2.12mn tons of freight annually and two runways, in the east and in the west, respectively. JBIC supported the previous five phases of this project by providing ODA loans from fiscal 1996 to fiscal 2002.

Reflecting recent economic growth and the booming tourism industry in Thailand, demand for air transport – both passenger and freight – has been steadily rising in Bangkok. With the city’s geographical location at the centre of the Indochina Peninsula also increasing its importance as a gateway to the Mekong region, the airport serving it is expected to function as an international hub in Southeast Asia. In the Medium-Term Strategy for Overseas Economic Cooperation Operations released in April 2002, JBIC placed one of the priorities of its concessional ODA loans for Thailand on developing urban infrastructure, including improvement in the urban environment. In line with this strategy, this airport project aims at developing the new airport as urban infrastructure in Bangkok that meets the rising demand for air transport, thereby contributing to medium- and long-term economic and social development in Thailand.