Kolkata airport modernisation to be launched on Monday

Monday, 29 December 2008, 23:40 IST
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Kolkata: Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel will inaugurate the modernisation project of the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport here Monday evening. The total cost of the project is around 16.02 billion (1,602 crore). A senior official of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said the modernisation work of Kolkata airport will be completed by May 2011. Besides Patel, state Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will be present at the inauguration. The modernisation is being done on a cash-contract basis. Following the modernisation plans of Mumbai and Delhi airports - developed by private consortiums led respectively by companies like GMR and GVK - Kolkata airport too was supposed to be upgraded in a public-private-partnership (PPP) basis. But Patel had to shelve the PPP plan after stiff opposition from the Left parties. ITD Cem, which was awarded the modernisation project in October has already begun work in November. ITD Cem, an Indian subsidiary of Italian-Thai Development, is a leading construction company, with over seven decades presence in India. After the modernisation, both runways will be long enough to allow operation of the world's biggest passenger aircraft, the A380. The upgrade will also raise the airport's passenger handling capacity to around 20 million annually from the present 4.9 million that comprises 882,000 passengers at the international terminal, and 4.06 million travellers at the domestic terminal. Modernisation would include extension of the second runway, construction of rapid exit taxiways, installation of navigation and surveillance systems, and setting up a new integrated terminal building.
Source: IANS