Speed up airport upgrade, says Mamata

Kolkata: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee is in a hurry and will brook no delay. Saying it in as many words during her visit to the airport, she repeatedly stressed upon the Kolkata airport director and top Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials on the need to complete the modernization project on time.
"If Kolkata has to attract investment, it needs a world-class airport. Remember, the city is the gateway to not just South-East Asian traffic but the Far East as well. The entire world is looking forward to the new terminal and it must be delivered on time," she told Kolkata airport director BP Sharma at the site on Monday evening.
Though Sharma & Co have made a commitment to complete the construction by this year-end and commence operations by March 2012, there are doubts internally. Sources said this year's monsoon delays as well as the one in 2009, coupled with the slow pace of work in the initial stages, could push the deadline back by a couple of months to May. Some even felt a more realistic target would be around the Pujas next year. Ironically, had AAI stuck to the original schedule, Mamata would have walked into the new terminal on Monday!
Earlier, airport officials took her on an exclusive drive down the secondary runway and pointed to the need for a third airstrip. At present, operations at the primary and secondary runway cannot be operated simultaneously as the separation between them is not adequate.
"While the new terminal will increase the passenger handling capacity from 5 million at present to 24 million, flights will remain a constraint because only 25-30 flights can be operated in an hour at present against double the number if simultaneous operations were possible," said an airport official.
A third runway will require additional land acquisition, something that the state government is unlikely to pursue given its stand on the issue. Airport officials though, are hopeful that Mamata may consider it favourably given that airport is a public purpose project.
02/08/11 Times of India

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Categories: airports aug 2011