Partners chosen for modernising Mumbai airport

New Delhi, Jun 15: Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) today announced the appointment of Netherlands Airports Consultants BV for airport design and master planning to lead the process.

It said Changi Airport Managers and Partners of Singapore will review the master plan and also help in improving the operations and management of Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.

MIAL said it has started the development of a long-term master plan for Mumbai airport which will be ready by September-end. The consortium which has been awarded modernisation contract is a 74:26 per cent joint venture company between the GVK-SA and the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

The GVL-led consortium also comprises of Airports Company South Africa Limited (ACSA) and Bidvest Group Limited. GVK has a prominent focus on infrastructure development in the areas of power, transportation and urban infrastructure. ACSA owns and manages 10 airports in South Africa including three international airports.

The operations management and development agreement for Mumbai airport was signed between MIAL and AAI on April 4 and the airport operations were handed over to MIAL on May 3.

MIAL is responsible for developing, designing, constructing, upgrading, modernising, operating, maintaining, financing and managing the Mumbai airport. It plans to make Mumbai airport a world-class airport at a cost of Rs 5,800 crores in the next seven years.

''Our commitment is to develop Mumbai airport into a landmark airport that the city of Mumbai and India will be proud of,'' said MAIL chairman G V Krishna Reddy. The company has introduced a number of initiatives and communication excercises with the staff and has appointed Mercer, a leading human resource consulting firm, to help in change management and strategy.

The Mumbai airport currently facilitates more than 500 aircraft movements per day, carries around 50,000 passengers daily resulting in handling about 37 per cent of the country's air traffic.

With over 17.66 million passengers last year and movement of over 490,000 tonnes of cargo per year, it is the largest airport in India.

The development of the airport is going to happen in three phases, he said. The first phase is the 100-day plan which has been branded as 'Parivartan' to signify the change that will be brought about in the initial days primarily focussed on a few areas. The second phase of development will be to upgrade the existing terminals including terminal 1A and terminal 2 which is the international terminal. Once the master plan is submited to AAI, MIAL will start the construction of the new terminal and related facilites.

UNI