Biz Scene: Local

Mountain airport

Changbai Mountain Airport is scheduled to open before the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games to allow tourists to visit the nature reserve in Northeast China, the General Administration of Civil Aviation said.

The airport, located in Fusong County of Northeast China's Jilin Province, is expected to handle 540,000 passengers annually by 2015.

The airport will operate direct flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian, Shenyang, Qingdao and Nanjing.

Construction of the airport began in July 2006, with an investment of 550 million yuan.

Development plan

Northwest China's Qinghai Province will ban all permanent buildings near Qinghai Lake, China's largest inland saltwater lake, under a tourism development plan.

Under the new plan, which is expected to be enacted next year, permanent buildings including hotels, restaurants and tourism service facilities will be relocated to an "accommodation zone" at least 3 kilometers away from the southern bank of the lake, said Jetik Majil, vice-governor of Qinghai, where the lake is located.

(China Daily 09/11/2007 page15)