Wait for NOC from Air Force grounds project

Confirming this in response to a RTI query filed by the correspondent,the Airports Authority of India (AAI) General Manager (Planning),Piyush Joshi,said the AAI had applied for a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Ministry of Defence,to begin work on the project,but the NOC is still awaited.

He said even the Joint Venture Company (JVC) to operate and maintain the international airport terminal was not yet constituted. Although the tripartite JVC agreement was approved and signed by the partners in the project in September last year,it was still awaiting a formal nod from the Registrar of Companies,to whom it was sent for registration.

AAI GM (Planning),however,admitted that Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) had handed over 305 acres 7 kanals 17 marlas of land to the AAI in September 2008,but the AAI was still sitting over the land.

The delay on part of AAI was evident from the fact that even 16 months after taking over possession of the land,it has not yet carried out even a survey of the land.

Joshi also confirmed there was no plan to construct more runways for the international airport and the lone runway of the IAF at the domestic airport in Chandigarh would be used for international flights as well. However,on how international air traffic would be managed from the lone IAF runway,which already caters to the domestic air traffic,the AAI gave no reply.

AAI is also yet to decide on the total project cost,when the work on the project would begin and when it will be completed.

GMADA,on the other hand,has even completed the acquisition of land for providing road connectivity to the new airport terminal. “We are in possession of the land but waiting for the commencement of work on the terminal building,” said GMADA Chief Administrator,Vivek Partap Singh,while promising to complete the road connectivity to airport at least three months prior to the beginning of operations at the international airport.

As per the approved JVC agreement,the AAI would develop the international civil air terminal for full-fledged operations within a period of two years from the date of handing over of physical possession of land by GMADA.

The AAI,which would bear all capital expenditure on development and upgrade of civil air terminal in Mohali,would construct civil air terminal complex with state-of-the-art facilities like aerobridges,escalators and cargo complex.

An apron would be developed as per requirement for parking civil aircrafts along with adequate number of taxi tracks connecting the runway to the apron. The AAI would coordinate with the IAF for provision of parallel taxi track in order to minimise runway occupancy time. Extension of runways would be done according to air traffic demand.

Named after Chandigarh
The name of the airport has been finalised and it would be called “Chandigarh International Airport Limited”,the AAI GM (Planning) confirmed. With this,the dispute over the name of the airport has also come to an end as both Punjab and Haryana,which are 24.5 per cent stakeholders each in the joint venture project with the AAI,having 51 per cent equity share,had proposed different names. While Punjab government had desired to name the airport after great martyr Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh,Haryana had recommended it to be named after Chandigarh as the new civil international airport terminal has to come up along with the existing domestic airport in Chandigarh .