CANBERRA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss revealed draft plans for Sydney's second international airport on Monday, along with a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that is open to public consideration.
The site of the new airport, which has been subject to years of debate and controversy, is to be the western Sydney suburb of Badgerys Creek.
It will share the international and domestic load with the over-capacity Kingsford Smith airport which currently serves the city and has witnessed a growth in passenger numbers from 9.5 million in 1985-86 to 36 million in 2011-12.
The deputy prime minister said the government would be taking public submissions regarding the airport until Dec. 18, 2015, which the government believes will create thousands of jobs and inject millions of dollars into the local economy.
"The new airport will create tens of thousands of jobs for the people of western Sydney through the construction phase and during operations. As a full-service international airport, it will be a business and tourism hub, creating long-term jobs and economic prosperity for the region," Truss said in a statement on Monday.
The deputy prime minister also quashed concerns over noise pollution, saying the proposed Environmental Impact Statement was one that minimized disturbances to local residents.
"Whilst every airport will have some noise, we are satisfied the noise impacts in western Sydney will not be such that they provide discomfort to the people of the region," Truss said.
"(It) is equivalent to the noise that you would hear from a passenger car traveling on a suburban road.
"We do anticipate that noise levels around the western Sydney area will be manageable. They will generally be about conversational level in volume, and rarely would people be required to raise their voices because of the fact that there were aircraft movements in the area."
The airport will eventually be able to handle a capacity of around 80 million passengers a year, after being expanded to dual-runway operations by 2050.
