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Arriving at the new Hong Kong airport at Chep Lak Kok may not give passengers the same thrill that the old Kaitak runway into the sea used to provide. No more take offs among skyscrapers, no more landings with a view of people dining in their flats. Now it's just a normal descent towards a flat island quite a long way from the city centre. Yet the new airport is itself worth a visit to Hong Kong. It has been named one of the top 10 construction achievements of the century, thanks to its characteristic Y-shaped main building and the clever use of natural light as an integral part of the terminal design.
To build it, the Airport Authority of Hong Kong - the 100% government-owned agency that runs the airport - has been very active in the international loan market over the past three years. The company made its debut in early 1996 with a massive HK$8.2 billion ($1.05 billion) deal to fund what is called phase one of the construction. And a second loan worth HK$4 billion was raised in September 1997 to finance the second runway.