Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday laid the foundation stone for the new integrated passenger terminal at Tiruchi International Airport through video conferencing.
While Mr. Modi, accompanied by Governor Panwarilal Purohit, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, symbolically pressed a button for staring the construction works from Tirupur, a group of dignitaries, seated at the old terminal, witnessed the event by watching it on a mega screen.
Collector K. Rajamani, P. Kumar, Member of Parliament, Tiruchi, Airport Director, K. Gunasekaran, General Manager, Project, Tiruchi Airport, P. Srikrishna, Airport Advisory Committee member M.A. Aleem and others participated in the function. Briefing the media on the construction of new terminal, Mr. Srikrishna said that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had sanctioned ₹.950 crore for the project. It was necessitated because of record annual growth of about 12% in terms of passenger traffic. The Tiruchi airport was handling about 1.5 million passengers per annum. It was expected to handle 3.52 million passengers per annum by 2025. The new terminal has been planned to meet the projected growth. He said that the new terminal building would be a fully air-conditioned modular structure. It was designed to handle over 3.5 million passengers per annum and 2,900 passengers at peak hour. The terminal would have an area of 60,700 square metres.
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Mr. Srikrishna said it would not only be an energy-efficient building but would also confirm to the green rating of the Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA). It has been decided to form rooftop solar panels on terrace to meet its electricity partially. It would have 10 aero bridges and there would be 10 aircraft parking bays. There would also be a parking lot outside the terminal that would accommodate 1,000 cars. The state-of-the-art terminal would have 26 escalators and lifts. The construction would be completed by 2021.
In addition to the new terminal, a new technical block-cum-control tower would also be constructed at a cost of ₹.75 crore. The Non-Objection Certificate (NoC) for height clearance has already been obtained for 42.5 meters. Similarly, the existing runway would be resurfaced at an estimate of ₹.15 crore.
The official added that the existing apron was designed to accommodate 7 aircraft at a time. It would be expanded at a cost of ₹.10 crore to accommodate a few more aircraft.
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