Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, Jual Oram, Petroleum, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship minister, Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday laid the foundation stone for construction of link building, parallel taxi track and additional parking bays at Bhubaneswar Airport in Odisha.
Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneshwar is one of the fastest growing airports in India.
Expressing his happiness on the occasion, Suresh Prabhu, HMCA through a video link, said: "Odisha is an important state of our country. Bhubaneswar is soon going to be a smart city; the new aviation infrastructure development being undertaken by AAI will ensure better facilities for air passengers."
During the year 2017-18, the airport handled 3.16 million domestic passengers per annum with a growth rate of 37.1 per cent and 0.091 million international passengers with a growth rate of 218.4 per cent.
To cater to the growing traffic at Bhubaneswar Airport, AAI has planned capacity enhancement both on air side and for the terminal building.
Capacity enhancement on air side includes construction of parallel taxi track and 8 additional parking bays at the cost of Rs 147.08 crore.
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Construction of parallel taxi track will improve the aircraft handling capacity from present 12 movements per hour to 25 movements per hour. The work shall be executed in phases, presently the Phase-I work of 1328 meters' length has been awarded.
The existing capacity of terminal buildings of Bhubaneswar Airport is 3 million passengers per annum. The work for refurbishment of old Terminal-2 and construction of link building between T-2 and T-1 is being undertaken at the cost of Rs 87.21 crore. This will enhance the capacity of terminals to 3.5 million passengers per annum and will also provide better facilities to international passengers.
A new domestic terminal, T-3 with an area of 58000 sq. metre and capacity to handle 8.8 million passengers per annum has also been planned in future at a cost of Rs 935.40 crores.
Addressing the public gathering during the ceremony, Dr. Guruprasad Mohapatra, Chairman, AAI said: "To cater to the tremendous growth in Indian aviation market, around Rs one lakh crores of investments are expected to be made in the Civil Aviation Sector over next five years. Out of which, AAI will invest around 30,000 Crores for infrastructure creation.
Odisha is a state that has attractive tourist destinations and is home to Jagannath Temple in Puri that is an important pilgrimage center. Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha, is fast developing as an education and IT hub. Airports Authority of India has undertaken various projects costing Rs1550 crores (approx) to improve air connectivity and develop and upgrade airport infrastructure in Odisha which will give impetus to the growth path of State.