VIJAYAWADA: Works for the much-awaited integrated terminal, to be built at Rs 611 crore, at Vijayawada International Airport near Gannavaram have begun. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has entrusted the task to New Delhi-based NKG Infrastructure Limited, and the project is likely to be completed by 2022.In 2018, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu performed the bhoomi puja for the new terminal building spread over an area of 31,000 square metres.
Of the total cost, Rs 460 crore will be spent on the new domestic terminal building, Rs 60 crore on an air traffic control (ATC) tower and Rs 54 crore for building aero-bridges and other facilities.Airport director G Madhusudana Rao told TNIE that the terminal handled around 11 lakh passengers every year before the pandemic. Since March last year, the terminal has handled around 9 lakh passengers. Recently, member of a board under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, K Venkateswaralu, and AAI officials carried out a ground-level inspection at the terminal premises and took stock of the progress of the integrated terminal building works.
Expressing satisfaction over the progress of the project, Venkateswaralu said Prime Minister Narendra Modi may inaugurate the new terminal building on August 15, 2022.On the facilities to come up at the new facility, Rao said as per the plans, the new terminal building can accommodate 400 foreign and 800 domestic passengers at a time.It will have 24 check-in counters, six aero bridges, 14 immigration and four custom counters, and a 24X7 CCTV monitoring cell. The contractor will also take up apron works at an estimated cost of Rs 27.5 crore, which will facilitate in parking of large aircrafts, such as Boeing 777 and 747, the airport director said.
Upcoming facility
New terminal building to be designed to accommodate 400 foreign and 800 domestic passengers at a time.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi may inaugurate the new facility on August 15, 2022, said a civil aviation ministry board member