The delay in the construction of new domestic and international terminals of the Chennai airport had resulted in a cost escalation of over Rs. 58 crores, according to a reply from Airports Authority of India to (AAI) an RTI query.
AAI has admitted to the delay and said it had paid this sum to the contractors — Herve Pomerleau International (HPI) and Consolidated Construction Consortium Limited (CCCL) — who executed this project as a joint venture.
To the query, AAI responded: “Escalation cost as per agreement clause was paid to M/s. HPI-CCCL (JV) for the work of construction of both terminals for an amount of Rs. 58.50 crore. Since the delay is not because of the contractor no penalty to be imposed.”
“It took us time to acquire land for the international terminal from the defence department. This was one of the primary reasons for the delay in the construction and commissioning of the terminals,” an official said.
In 2013, a government audit noted there was a loss of interest of Rs. 48 crore due to the delay in the commissioning of the new international terminal. Also, there was a loss of revenue of Rs. 37 crore due to the delay in the construction of both terminals.
The Rs. 2,300-crore Chennai airport expansion project started in October 2008 with a deadline of January 2011. But it was only two years after the deadline, in January 2013, that both terminals were inaugurated.
The terminals have run into several construction-related problems over the past two years, including breaking of glass panels and collapse of parts of the false ceiling. More recently, the state of maintenance of the airport also came under fire, after Union Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju’s team came for a surprise inspection, and found the state of toilets deplorable.
