CHENNAI: The old Kamaraj Domestic Terminal and the Anna International Terminal, which have served the city’s aviation needs for almost three decades, will be knocked down and rebuilt as modern airport terminals.
Announcing the decision, Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman R K Srivastava said, “We have decided that the old terminals will be upgraded through reconstruction and will be merged with these new ones. They will be linked with the terminals commissioned three years ago and the movement will be seamless.” The project is expected to set the exchequer back by at least `1,000 crore, which is half of what the last modernisation drive cost them.
Initially there were proposals to repair and redevelop the old buildings named after two former TN Chief Ministers, and merge them with the new ones. But this was met with stiff opposition by AAI officials.
“During the meeting on Thursday morning, we vehemently told the Chairman and the Member (Planning) that the Kamaraj and Anna Terminals were a single floor structure and any amount of remodelling would still be futile and problem-prone,” said an AAI official, explaining how the decision was taken. Based on this, a project management consultant is to be appointed within the month to begin work on the project. “Without disruption we will construct a new domestic terminal and extend it to the new one. A lot of the structural issues with T1 and T2 will be corrected during this construction,” said Member (Planning) S Raheja.
The Kamaraj Domestic Terminal has fallen into disuse ever since the new Domestic Terminal (T1) was operationalised in mid-2013. This building, which currently houses the centre kitchen for restaurants and lounges, will be brought down first. The Anna International Terminal (T2) has seen a lot more traction because the newly constructed arrival hall has not been pressed into use because of a staff crunch. Now that the Ministry of Civil Aviation has decided against privatisation, AAI has taken the call to pull down the buildings.