New MAA terminal to open in August
After a slew of inordinate delays, the new domestic terminal at the Chennai airport will finally be operational from Independence Day, said Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman V P Agrawal. "All the work has been completed and the terminal will be fully ready before August 15.
The inauguration date will be announced depending upon the availability of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa."
After inspecting the various facilities at the new terminal building, Agrawal said that cleaning work is on and that this was the "final phase".
The Rs 2,700 cr-ore project was initially slated to be completed almost a year ago, but was postponed due to delays in execution.
After it is operational, a makeshift arrangement will be made in the new terminal for facilities, such as food courts and restaurants.
"Once all the work is complete, top companies will be invited to put up their shops," he said. The AAI plans a trial run at the international terminal next week.
"We have a manpower problem there. Customs, Immigration and the CISF have to post additional personnel to man the counters, check the arriving and departing passengers and monitor the movement of people inside the terminals," he said. AAI is in touch with the Union home and finance ministries in this regard, he assured.
Agrawal also ruled out the possibility of Private Public Partnership (PPP) for the new terminals at Chennai and Kolkata airports. "We are looking at Joint Venture Management Contract system, where we hold 51 per cent and the remaining will be with the private player. This system is in vogue in airports, such as Zurich and Singapore. The AAI is looking at some of these models," Agarwal added.
The new automatic cargo storage and retrieval system will become operational at the Chennai airport soon. This will further enhance the cargo handling capacity of the airport, he said. About secondary runway, Agrawal said there were some obstructions in the flight path, which needed to be cle-ared by the State.
The State government needs to provide 15.6 acres of land to install facilities such as instrument landing system at the extended secondary runway.
Once both these works are completed, the secondary runway could be fully utilised, he said.
Inauspicious start
A few hours after Agrawal landed in Chennai, a minor fire broke out at the Chennai airport terminal.
At 1.30am, a lamp-post at bay number 29 started spewing sparks and eventually burst into flames. Two fire engines rushed there and doused the burning electricity pole. It was a minor fire and no one was hurt, but AAI officials were perturbed that it happened at a time when the AAI chairman had made a rare visit. Published by HT Syndication with permission from New Indian Express. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at [email protected]
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