BHUBANESWAR: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has roped in an agency to conduct environmental impact assessment (EIA) study of its plan to construct a new domestic terminal building at Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here to meet the soaring air travel demand.
The EIA study involves identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the biophysical, social, and other relevant effects of development proposals prior to taking major decisions.The annual traffic handled by BPIA in 2016-17 was 2.33 million passengers including 29,000 international flyers, a growth rate of 23 per cent as compared to 2015-16.
The annual passenger handling capacity of terminals 1 and 2 in BPIA is 2.5 million. BPIA officials said there is a proposal to expand the international terminal building (T-2) by 2,500 square metre. After the expansion, the annual passenger handling capacity of BPIA will increase to 2.75 million.
“To cater to the growing passenger demand, it was proposed to construct a new domestic terminal building (terminal-3) with an annual handling capacity of 4.25 million passengers. After the new terminal comes up, the annual passenger handling capacity of the airport will further increase to seven million. This will help BPIA smoothly handle the growing passenger demand till 2027-28 as per the air traffic forecast,” an airport official said.
BPIA Director Suresh Chandra Hota said if the proposal is approved, the new terminal will be constructed over an area of 58,000 square metre. As per the plan, the new terminal building will be centrally air-conditioned and have all the state-of-the art facilities.
The airport authorities have also planned to include special provisions for senior citizens and differently-abled persons at the new terminal building. While ramps will be introduced for the differently-abled persons in the departure and arrival areas of terminal 3, battery operated cars will also be made available for senior citizens coming to the new terminal, sources said.