Rs 1,800 cr Chennai Airport Development plans get PIB nod

New Delhi, July 29 (UNI) The Public Investment Board (PIB) today cleared the Rs 1,808.10 crore development plans of Chennai Airport, work on which is expected to begin by September.

The plans are likely to get the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday.

The pre-engineering and pre-qualification of the project have been completed.

Construction of runway, taxiway, parking bays is expected to be completed in 20 months by April 2010, and the terminal buildings in 26 months by October 2010, Civil Aviation Ministry said.

The Tamil Nadu Government has handed over about 130 acres of land to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for the development of the secondary runway.

More than 21 acres of defence land is made available for the expansion of the airport.

The Expert Committee on Infrastructural development is expected to give the environmental clearance of the project ''very soon''.

As much as 80 per cent of the project will be funded through internal resources of the AAI and 20 per cent through commercial borrowings.

No User Development Fee (UDF) or budgetary support is envisaged for the project.

The domestic passenger terminals, which will be able to cater to 16 million passengers annually from the present ten million, will have a peak hour capacity of about 5,360 passengers, 99 check-in counters, ten conveyor belts and nine aerobridges. It is expected to be saturated by 2012-13.

The upgraded international terminal building, which will be able cater to seven million passengers a year from the current three million, will have a peak hour capacity of about 4450 passengers, 109 check-in counters, 35 immigration counters for departure and 39 for arrival, eight customs counters for departure and 26 for arrival, eight conveyor belts and eight aerobridges. The terminal is expected to be saturated in 2017-18.

UNI YJ MP RK1940