Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Tulihar Airport modernisation, Centre sets completion date by 2010

Manipur Info Centre

NEW DELHI, March 11 : The Airport Authority of India (AAI) is undertaking the development and modernization of all 35 non-metro airports including Imphal Airport in the country simultaneously and work is due to be completed by March 2010.

The Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Praful Patel informed the Rajya Sabha today that the target date for completion of modernization process of the 35 non-metro airports by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is March 2010.

He said, “New Terminal Buildings expandable on modular basis are being constructed at Ahme-dabad, Amritsar, Auranga- bad, Agatti, Bhopal, Bhu-baneswar, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Goa, Jaipur, Lucknow, Indore, Khaju-raho, Madurai, Mangalore, Port Blair, Ranchi, Raipur, Rajkot, Trivandrum, Trichy, Udaipur, Varanasi and Vishakhapatnam airports.”

The Minister said, “Modification and expansion of existing Terminal Buildings are being undertaken at airports in Agra, Agartala, Coimbatore, Dimapur, Guwahati, Imphal, Jammu, Nagpur, Patna, Pune and Vadodara.”

Patel stated that airside works including expansion and strengthening of runway for wide bodied aircraft operations, extension/new construction of Apron for more parking of aircrafts, link taxiways and parallel taxi tracks were being taken up at these airports as per requirement.

At 24 of these airports, city side development through Public Private Partnership is being under- taken, he informed the House.

Mention may be made that the Government has taken up the development of the 35 non-metro airports within the country with the objective of providing modern infrastructure and enhancing non-aeronautical revenue.

The New Concept for the 35 Non-Metro Terminal Buildings include features such as Modular Design; Structured Steel with Toughened Glass Glazing; Vertical Air-conditioning System; Aero-bridges – with Glass walls; Walkways; In-line baggage screening for check-in; Escalators; Improved Signages; Integrated Building Management System; Intelligent Terminals; CUTE; Improved traffic management on city side. The main objective is to upgrade the airports to make them compatible with international standards in terms of facilities and services.

India is focused on developing its aviation infrastructure to augment and facilitate passenger and cargo movement, using sophisticated equipment and technologies said Patel and added that it has 125 airports; of these 11 are designated international airports.

As per the annual report of the Airport Authority of India in 2005-06, Indian airports handled 73.3 million passengers and 1.4 million tones of cargo.

The increasing number of passengers has in-turn led to an increase in the demand for aircrafts.

The National fleet comprised 170 aircrafts in 2005 only and it is estimated that India’s fleet will reach 500-550 aircraft by the end of 2010.

Of the 35 non-metro airports, 24 will also witness city side development through Public Private Partnership (PPP) route.

The city side development would include cons- truction of hotels, convention centres, food courts, flight kitchens, petrol pumps, hospitals, shopping malls, golf courses and cargo warehouses etc.

The Sangai Express

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