Calcutta airport recast cost rises

New Delhi: The modernisation cost of the Calcutta airport is expected to go up to Rs 2,300 crore from Rs 1,942 crore because of a rise in the prices of inputs such as steel and cement.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has informed the committee on infrastructure about the cost escalation at a meeting held to review the project. The revamped airport will handle 20 million passengers, four times the current capacity. Work has already started at the airport.
Officials said the Calcutta terminal was one of the cheapest upgrades, though costs have risen. The Delhi airport is being renovated at an investment of Rs 8,900 crore, while the Mumbai airport upgrade will cost Rs 9,802 crore.
However, Delhi and Mumbai are being upgraded on a much larger scale.
The Delhi airport plan aims to increase passenger capacity to 60 million from the current 24 million.
The AAI wants to complete the modernisation of the Calcutta airport by June 2011, said officials present at the meet.
Earlier, the Planning Commission along with the finance ministry had sought to split the construction of the airport into two modules to lower the cost. However, the cabinet had ruled that construction in a single phase would be cheaper and more efficient.
The Calcutta airport plan got stuck in controversy when civil aviation minister Praful Patel wanted to award the project to private developers — a move resisted by the state’s Left Front government.
21/05/09 The Telegraph

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Categories: Airports May 2009