Mumbai, November 1 The long overdue upgrade of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) just took a step ahead with the awarding of a Rs 5,500-crore contract to Larsen & Toubro. The engineering giant will now be responsible for the Engineering, Construction and Procurement (EPC) controls at the CSIA.
GV Krishna Reddy, chairman of GVK Industries which is the leading consortium partner of the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) said having L&T on board would help them shape their “dream of making CSIA a world class airport”. Priority works to be undertaken by L&T will include a new, integrated terminal building and expansion and modernization of existing facilities. The contract also includes landside and airside works to be undertaken on a turnkey basis.
The new terminal, to be sprawled over 5 million sq feet, will integrate both the international and domestic terminals with global-style facilities. Terminal 1A is likely to be demolished to accommodate the new structure. The apron space is also to be increased to some 8 lakh square feet, the biggest in the country, to accommodate more aircraft, said GV Sanjay Reddy, vice-chairman of GVK. These key changes will help double the handling capacity of CSIA to 40 million passengers annually.
A M Naik, chairman and managing director of L&T said the task of developing the airport in Mumbai would be that much more challenging since it is not a Greenfield airport. While the task will be undertaken phase by phase, the first structure to face demolition will probably be a warehouse situated between terminals 1A and 1B. Also, work like baggage handling would be sub-contracted to specialists.
L&T won the bid over two other international players. GVK Reddy said L&T clearly had the edge due to their localised knowledge. “The other players, being based outside India, would need more time and resources in mobilizing the plan into action. This problem would be almost non-existent now," he said. “The designing of the new integrated terminal itself would need some 2,000 people. To mobilize that kind of resource from outside would be a bit difficult, we thought.”
source : Express News Service
[2nd November, 2007]