Connectivity tops new Hyderabad airport agenda

It's just 25 kilometres from the present airport at Begumpet but making it back and to the new Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad, as things stand, is no mean feat.

At 9.30 on a Monday morning, it took this reporter close to 1 hour and 25 minutes from Secunderabad. What's worse is that it is not a smooth, hassle-free drive; there are hoards of turns, twists and a lot of honking that leaves you quite exhausted.

Clearly, with the deadline for commercial operations looming large over the minds of Hyderabad International Airport Limited (HIAL) officials, connectivity has pretty much become one of the key issues dominating their minds.

Since January, protests about the airport's distance, inconvenience and bad roads en-route have taken up a lot of local attention. On January 29, Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials agitated against the Begumpet facility's closure on these grounds and highlighted the fact that it would mean wasting a national asset.

Congress MP V Hanumantha Rao has been quite strident in his demands that the old airport should not be closed. He's found support of CPI(M) MP P Madhu, who shot off a letter to the prime minister and aviation minister Praful Patel putting his apprehensions on record.

However, whether the locals like it or not, from the morning of March 16, the residents of the city will have no choice but to do the journey and it's with this in mind that HIAL "" with the support of the state government "" is looking at various ways to ease the pain.

To start with, the new airport will have a transportation hub (there will be a free shuttle between the main terminal building and this hub leaving at regular intervals).

From the hub, the time sensitive passengers can hire a radio cab (the Andhra Pradesh government has recently cleared this and of the five new radio taxi operators, two will be dedicated to the airport) and go to any part of the city at a rate of Rs 15 per kilometre. There will be close to 1,000 GPS-enabled taxis (if it breaks down it can be located and the passengers picked up).

The price sensitive passengers can take one of the 125 air conditioned coaches (to start with 45) which will go to roughly 15 designated city locations (to start with only seven to eight will be operational).

There will be a standalone airport shuttle bus stand. The fare is to be under Rs 100 per trip, though will vary depending on the location. The buses will leave every 15 minutes in peak time and 30 minutes in non-peak time.

The vehicles will come equipped with GPS and Wi-Fi, to enable one to work while travelling; a small pantry will offer some basic refreshments.

Autos will also be plying from the airport but would prove both expensive and back breaking, considering the state of portions of the road. That's provided one survives the fumes emitted by traffic on the way.

However, whatever mode one chooses, the distance of the airport and the complicated and messy state of the roads will remain a reality for some time to come. Progress on the 11.6 kilometre elevated expressway is snail-like (being built at a cost of Rs 480 crore), if there is any progress at all.

So, when company officials say that it will be ready in the next six months, it's hard to believe on what basis they are making their claim. Once ready and if you do get on to the expressway, the drive from Sarojini Devi eye hospital to Shamshabad airport will come down from the present around 60 minutes to 40 minutes.

An eight lane access controlled outer ring road, which is coming up in concentric circles around the city, will eventually lower the time taken for those travelling from the knowledge hub area "" this includes the University of Hyderabad, BHEL, CS Rao's IRDA and Indian School of Business "" from 45-50 minutes today to 20-25 minutes to the airport. The opening of the first stretch which was due for this March has also been delayed to around September-October.

Eventually, airport authorities speak of a mono rail transport system (MRTS), a dedicated airport train from the city to the airport and a metro link "" but when you do the drive today, it sounds like a bit of a pipe dream.

No wonder Kiran Kumar Grandhi, GMR group head of airports, is convinced that connectivity must simply be made a part of all green-field airport projects. He's learnt the hard way.