THE environmental impact report of the sea reclamation project for the construction of the third runway of Shenzhen International Airport has passed assessment by experts, according to a notice published on the official website of the State Oceanic Administration of China last week.

    The report said that the sea reclamation project and soft soil treatment project won’t impose an obvious impact on Chinese white dolphins at the mouth of the Pearl River, as the project’s location is at least 23.4 kilometers away from the Chinese White Dolphin Nature Reserve. The vessels used in the project won’t affect the ship flows at the mouth of the Pearl River.

    For the construction of the third runway and Terminal 4, Shenzhen will reclaim 2.92 million square meters of land from the sea, equivalent to the size of 400 standard soccer pitches.

    The 3.6-kilometer-long and 60-meter-wide third runway is estimated to commence operation in 2018.

    It is a key infrastructure project of the city’s 13th Five-year Plan.

    In October 2015, the city’s legislature adjusted the budget for 2015 by allotting 11.2 billion yuan (US$1.77 billion) for a land-reclamation project for the construction of the third runway and Terminal 4.

    The land reclamation project will cost 4.32 billion yuan.

    The Shenzhen airport was upgraded to a regional air transport hub instead of an airport for main air routes by the Civil Aviation Administration of China in its 13th Five-year Plan.

    This will enable the airport to get enough resources to open more international routes. Passenger turnover at the Shenzhen airport hit 40 million last year and is expected to reach 45 million in 2017, three years earlier than originally planned. International passenger turnover will account for 10 percent of total passengers in 2020.

    The city is trying to build a four-hour “aviation circle,” which covers Southeast Asia, South Asia, East Asia and West Asia, and a 12-hour circle that covers major cities in the world.

    By the year 2040, the airport is expected to handle 63 million passengers annually.(Han Ximin)