Mumbai to get second airport

By agencies   |   Thursday, 08 December 2005, 20:30 IST
Printer Print Email Email
BANGALORE: With an aim at easing the increasing air traffic in Mumbai, India is planning to build a second international airport in the city. . The new airport can handle at least 40 million passengers a year - nearly four times the traffic the city's existing airport handles, an official said. India is revamping its airport infrastructure at an estimated cost of $8.7 billion over the next five years to match the 25 percent annual growth in air travel, from a low base of 17 million passengers a year at present. "We have looked at a couple of sites outside the city tentatively for the new airport and will soon carry out aeronautical evaluation" of the sites, Ajay Prasad, secretary, civil aviation ministry said. Details regarding investment and construction timeframe would be decided after the technical study, he said. The new airport, when completed, will handle about 40 to 50 million passengers a year, he said. The existing international airport in Bombay handles 11 million passengers annually. Prasad also said that the government hopes to choose later this month private investors to upgrade the present congested airports in Bombay and New Delhi. The winners out of six bidding consortia for upgrading the present Bombay airport and five consortia for New Delhi would be chosen within three weeks and will begin work sometime in 2006, he said. Thirty other airports in the country would also be upgraded with private sector participation, he said.