Kolkata, June
3:
The Kolkata
airport or Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport is often a
“traveller's nightmare.” It is small, clumsy, mismanaged and perhaps not what
an airport should be like. But come October and all these are set to change.
“Flights will
be operational once airlines are able to shift their counters to the new
terminal. It might take up to December,” an airport official said on conditions
of anonymity.
The nearly Rs
2,500-crore modernisation programme, stuck by several delays, is being carried
out by the Thai-Indian consortium of ITD-ITD Cementation. The modernisation
work will bring the airport at par with international standards.
It had an
initial completion date of August 2011. It has been revised to May 2012 and now
to October 2012. Currently, over 90 per cent of the modernisation work is
complete.
Mr B.P. Sharma,
regional director, Kolkata airport, remained unavailable for comment.
Proposals
So what exactly
is special about the modernisation?
If airport
officials and the initial plans are to be believed then the programme includes
a number of infrastructural changes and once fully operational, the new
integrated terminal will cater to an annual increased capacity of nearly 20
million people.
At the moment,
the annual footfalls at the airport are nearly 9 million – almost double the
existing capacity of the airport (the airport has a passenger handling capacity
of 5 million).
The
international look of the new terminal at Kolkata and Delhi's T3-like feel are
just some of the surprises that the new airport has in line for those who walk
into it. The landscaping of the integrated terminal will have references to
Rabindranath Tagore's writings.
According to
officials, the arrival corridor and hall of the airport terminal have been
built in such a way that they allow the smooth switching of operations between
the domestic and international terminal.
Landscaping
At the heart of
the building a landscape courtyard sits; the roof above looks like it's clothed
in silk.
The central
roof canopy, with an estimated area of nearly 24,000 sq. m is designed to
facilitate rainwater harvesting. The design allows natural light into the
terminal building's interiors.
The terminal
building will be equipped with modern passenger facilities and state-of-the-art
security arrangements. This apart, a modern exit taxiway from the main runway
to the secondary runway is also on the cards.
Challenges
Currently,
there are two operational runways at the Kolkata airport. The main runway has a
length of nearly 3,627 m and can handle wide-body aircraft of up to the Boeing
747-400 type.
The extension
of the secondary runway was delayed after questions were raised about the shifting
of a mosque located inside the premises. The secondary runway has a length of
2,839 m and handles the smaller aircrafts.
Construction of
the new ATC tower too has been temporarily postponed.
According to
officials, since automation of the ATC has been carried out at the existing
terminal building, setting up a new tower at a cost of around Rs 300 crore will
be done in the second phase of modernisation of the airport.
What's there now
·
Runways: Two
·
Passenger Handling capacity: Nine million
·
Existing domestic terminal area: 24,450 sq m
·
International flights from the airport: 16
After modernisation
·
Passenger Handling Capacity: 20 million
·
Integrated terminal area: 187,000 sq metre (apprx)
·
Elevated road in front of passenger terminal building
·
Car parking basement
· Flyover to airport entry point for faster
traffic movement
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