Work on new ATC tower at Mumbai to begin soon

Mumbai: After flagging off construction of the new terminal building at Mumbai airport in February, redevelopers of the Mumbai airport are ready to begin work on the new Air Traffic Control Tower (ATC) at the Santacruz airport.
While the exact date is yet to be worked out, a spokesperson from the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) told Newsline, “The construction is likely to start in a couple of months. The tower will take two years to be commissioned. This includes construction as well as installation of the equipment.”
Specific details on the tower’s design could not be verified. “It will be a steel and glass structure and will have much more floor area than the current tower,” said a senior airport official.
Sources said the tower, to be built in a section of the current parking area opposite terminal 1B, would stand well above 230 metre, making it a landmark. The existing tower is 150 metre high.
It was operationalised in 1999 by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) at an overall project cost of about Rs 280 crore.
The shifting would coincide with the installation of the surface movement radar (SMR), which gives a clear picture of all moving and stationary objects in the airport’s operational area.
31/03/09 Shashank Shekhar/Express India

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Categories: Airports Mar 2009