Bhubaneswar: In a bid to increase the handling capacity and streamline the safety measures the City airport is set to receive a slew of projects for the next three years with major proposals planned to be complete this year.
Under the short-term objectives, the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) will receive projects worth Rs 97 crore in the form of Parallel Taxi Track (PTT) and a fire station set to be completed by June 2019. Meanwhile, a whopping Rs 900-crore construction of an additional terminal has been proposed aiming 2022 as its finish date.
Detailing about the project, BPIA director Suresh Chandra Hota explained, “Observing the increasing air traffic for the airport a PTT of length 2.7 kms costing Rs 65.65 crore is under construction which will be over by June. PTTs enhance runway occupancy duration meaning the airport can afford more flights to land.”
“The safety also demands beefing up with rise in traffic and thus a category 9 fire station worth Rs 31.72 crore is underway and is expected to be completed by this February,” he added.
Reports from the BPIA show that 12,500 international flights arrived at the airport in 2015, and 2018 witnessed an increase of 30.3% with 23,400 flights arriving at BPIA. Similarly, air traffic for domestic flights also reported a surge of 31.5% rising from 12,508 to 23,900 during the same time period.
Stating a further growth of 39.7% in the air traffic for the BPIA, Hota said that a bigger terminal is needed to cater to the soaring numbers. “We have floated tenders for the construction of a Rs 950-crore terminal that will have capacity of 8.8 million passengers per annum,” Hota mentioned.
“At present we have invited a consultancy firm to handle the project. Once finalised, the plan, which includes construction of seven aerobridges and a multi-level car parking, is set to roll by 2020 and will be up and running at the BPIA by 2022,” he added.