The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will invite tenders for re-carpeting of the runway of the Calicut airport after obtaining a report from the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) next month.
The CRRI, a constituent of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has been entrusted with the technical study for repairing the tabletop runway of the airport. Tenders would be called for on the basis of this report, the Airport Director Peter K. Abraham, told The Hindu on Thursday.
He said that the CRRI team had already commenced its study.
“We expect its report by a month. The cost of the project will be prepared based on the report. The re-carpeting will not affect the flight operations,” he added.
The Union Civil Aviation Ministry had already decided to allot Rs 40 crore for strengthening the entire runway (9,383 feet) of the airport. This was after a high-level team led by T.S. Chandramouli, Executive Director (Engineering), AAI examined the runway last year.
Temporary works at the end of the runway for aircrafts to turnaround would begin in a week. The total cost would come up to Rs 3 crore. The work would be done between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. during which the runway will remain closed.
Calicut Airport is one of the 10 busiest airports in India. However, it has been in the news following incidents of cracks developing on its runway. Heavy monsoon had been cited for peeling off of runway surface. This had also been posing a risk to the aircrafts, officials said.
Previously a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probed revealed that the flights had been operating on a sub-standard runway constructed by a Delhi-based firm. The investigating agency had also filed a charge-sheet against the firm and 10 others accusing them of criminal conspiracy, forgery and cheating.
False invoicesInvestigators had found that the project for resurfacing the runway completed in 2007 had been worth Rs.23 crore. But the accused had made false invoices and fake bills worth Rs.2.18 crore.
The charge sheet pointed out that 3,700 tonnes of bitumen had been used instead of the required 4,500 tonnes. Similarly only 5,500 bags of cement had been used instead of 10,000 bags. This had compromised the safety of millions of passengers, it said.
Incidentally an Air India Airbus flight flying from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, scraped its right wing tip on the runway on landing in 2008 and an Air India Express skidded on landing, during heavy rain in 2012.
However, Mr. Abraham said that current technical study taken up by CRRI had nothing to do with the CBI probe. “It is altogether a separate issue. The CRRI would give its report depending on the geographical area and the materials needed to be used for resurfacing the runway,” he said.
Certainly the re-carpeting would strengthen the runway for several years. But only an extension of the runway by at least 10,500 ft would facilitate large aircraft to operate from the airport, sources said..
