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fter being delayed for months, the expansion of Ngurah Rai International Airport will finally start early January 2010, an official has confirmed.

Following a recent meeting with Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika, president director of PT Angkasa Pura I airport management company, Bambang Darwoto, said the Rp 1.5 trillion-expansion project (US$15million) was expected to finish within 30 months.

The project will cover the extension of both international and domestic passenger terminals, parking lots and other supporting facilities. The planned project was delayed because the governor initially rejected the previous plan. PT Angkasa Pura I had first planned to expand the commercial zone to cover around 40 percent of the passenger terminals.

The previous domestic terminal was going to be expanded into 120 hectare-international passenger terminal. At present, the international terminal is 63,246 square meters and has the capacity to receive 7.4 million visitors a year, while the domestic terminal covers only 11,255 square meters and can receive 1.5 million passengers.

The airport expansion project will affect hundreds of residences and public facilities in nearby areas.

The airport, located in the crowded tourist and residential area of Tuban, Kuta, currently spreads over 289 hectares.

Pastika refused to accept the design saying the commercial zone would create an uncomfortable situation in the passenger terminal. More than that, the spacious business site would cause security problems at the airport.

In the revised design, the size of business site has been reduced to only 30 percent of the total area, while the remaining 10 percent will be used for public areas.

In the preliminary design, the airport extension would have been given a modern and futuristic style, with a more traditional Balinese design inside the airport.