Bandar Seri Begawan - Despite the extremely tight timeline, the Brunei International Airport (BIA) Terminal Modernisation project will be ready as planned by the end of 2013.

This was revealed by Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) Project Manager Lee San San in reference to the recent developments with regards to upgrading works being carried out in the BIA project.

Generally, the major focus is on construction of the P1 car park area. Once completed, it will have about 600 car parking spaces.

"At the moment, for the purpose of receiving Haj pilgrims from Jeddah, we can facilitate some 400 cars," she explained. Construction work on the other areas will resume once the Haj pilgrimage is completed. That is when the constructors will finish the rest of the works, constructing the new departure and arrival halls.

"The Haj pilgrims are scheduled to arrive on November 1 and November 3, at 9am and 4.55pm, respectively" said Ms Lee.

"Currently, the plan is for the departure and arrival halls to be completed by the end of next year, and that is why we have a very tight timeline. The work includes all the systems that need to be installed as well."

With regards to whether the project will be completed on time, she said, "Honestly I would say the construction work is a little affected by the weather, but overall we are still devising a catch-up plan. But generally we don't see any major problems in term of the construction of the P1 car park and the departure and arrival halls.

"Next year there is going to be two major Asean summits hosted by Brunei and we need to plan with the Department of Civil Aviation and other relevant government ministries how we can manage the flow of the passengers and other airport users."