Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Friday inaugurated Terminal 2 of Chhattrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai.
Speaking on the occasion Dr. Singh said, "This terminal is expected to establish new global bench-marks of functional efficiency and operational safety for airports. It also exemplifies our ability as a nation to build world-class infrastructure. I have no doubt that this terminal will fulfill the expectations we have from it and make us all feel very proud."
"This is a reasonable expectation given that the new terminal has the latest design features and particularly meets international standards in addressing critical environmental concerns like those of energy and water efficiency and indoor air quality. It is passenger friendly and the conveniences of all categories of passengers, including people with reduced mobility, have been an important consideration in its design. Particular emphasis has been given to build strong airside capabilities, resulting in significant improvement in hourly runway movements," he added.
Encouraging private players to enter into partnership with the government, Dr. Singh said, "The construction of the new terminal is yet another shining example of successful execution of large infrastructure projects under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model which our Government has encouraged in recent years. I am very happy that the PPP model has worked particularly well in the civil aviation sector, with 5 PPP airports now handling about 57% of the passenger traffic and about 70% of the cargo in our country. The success of Terminal-2 should give a boost to other PPP projects in the country, which are under implementation or are at the planning stage."
"Recognizing this, our Government has introduced several policy and regulatory reform measures to encourage growth, private participation and investment in the civil aviation sector. We are determined to ensure that the civil aviation sector grows rapidly despite challenges such as rising fuel costs and infrastructure bottlenecks. The decision to allow up to 49% FDI by foreign carriers in domestic airlines, in addition to the FDI permissible in airport infrastructure, will help Indian carriers through equity infusion.
Dr. Singh also said the importance of this airport for Mumbai cannot be overemphasized and added that Mumbai is the financial capital of our country and is a major source of enterprise and creativity which drive our economic growth.
"It is the capital of our film industry which has global scale and global reach. This city truly deserves world class facilities like the new T-2 Terminal," he added.
The airport can cater to an estimated 40 million passengers annually. It is spread over an area of 4.39 lakh square metres. Thousands of artifacts and paintings have been used in the terminal's interior.
The terminal has 47 escalators and 73 elevators for passenger's convenience. There are 188 check-in counters, 60 immigration counters for departing passengers, and 76 immigration counters for incoming fliers inside the Terminal.
The new terminal will operational from February onwards.
