Earthmovers Move In To Kick Off Rs 1,212-Cr Project That Will Give Chennai State-Of-The-Art Terminals And Much More
V Ayyappan TNN
Jan 27, 2009
Chennai: The economic slowdown may have had its impact on construction work, but the Rs 1,212-crore airport expansion project is moving at a rapid pace. On Monday, work began on the building of an elevated road that will touch the passenger terminals; while work to construct a new domestic terminal started a couple of weeks ago. According to Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials, construction was going on in different parts of the airport campus so that the work could be completed by 2011, the deadline. Land has been marked and earth being moved to prepare the ground for building a new 74,500-square metre domestic terminal. It will have two floors — first floor for departure and the ground floor for arrivals. “Some of the facilities inside the airport campus have been moved to facilitate the construction work. Gate no. 1 used by airline staff and VIPs has been moved closer to the AAI administrative building,” an AAI official said. However, work on building a new international terminal spread out over 65,000 square feet is yet to start because it will occupy 21 acres of defence land that still needs to be transferred to AAI. “Steps are underway to procure the land. As per the arrangement, AAI would assist the defence ministry to relocate some of the installations on those 21 acres of land. We have already started constructing a building for the defence at an alternative site in Pallavaram,” the AAI official said. The AAI would soon have another round of meeting with defence ministry officials to finalise transfer of the land. The expansion project is being executed by Consolidated Construction Consortium Limited (CCCL) in technical collaboration with Canadian infrastructure company Herve Pomerleau International. It is expected to be completed in 26 months. Once the project is complete, Chennai airport will become world-class, with passengers lounging in steel-andglass terminals that will have natural lighting and using an in-campus flyover that will take them directly to the firstfloor departure areas at the domestic and international terminals. They will benefit from a a multi-level car park and also choose from a host of recreational activities while waiting for the boarding call. “We will follow the design handed over to us by the AAI,” said an official of CCCL. Their technical collaborators, Herve Pomerleau International, have the experience of doing up the Montreal airport.
THE PLAN
Construction of a 75,000-sq m domestic terminal and a 65,000-sq m international terminal at the airport
Construction of an elevated road that will allow passengers to drive right up to the first-floor departure halls of the terminals
Construction of a 47,000-sq m multi-level car parking that can hold 2,600 cars
The project will cost Rs 1,212 crore and will be completed in 26 months
THE PURPOSE
It’s about time Chennai got a world-class airport
Passenger traffic has been increasing steadily over the years and the existing terminal space is inadequate
The new terminals will be equipped to handle 16 million passengers a year
HOW YOU GAIN
You will be able to lounge in state-of-the-art terminals that will use glass and steel for natural lighting
Flight announcements and displays will be automated
You will have several recreational options while waiting for the boarding call
You will have 28 elevators, 12 escalators and 17 aerobridges
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