Larsen and Toubro has begun construction of a new integrated terminal at the Chennai airport as part of the Phase II modernisation project.
Officials of Airports Authority of India (AAI) said the company had started excavation work which will continue for the next six months; after this, the foundation work and other construction work would follow. The project is expected to be completed in mid-2021.
Estimated to cost around ₹2,500 crore, the integrated facility will have the international terminal at the centre and the domestic terminal on either side of it. This meant that the old Kamaraj Domestic Terminal and the Anna International Terminal together would become the international terminal and the existing domestic and international terminals would be modified to serve as the domestic terminals on two sides, officials said. All three buildings will be linked internally to provide for connectivity for passengers, they said.
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“We plan to build this terminal in two phases. We have demolished the old Kamaraj Domestic Terminal where the construction work has started. Subsequently, we will demolish the Anna International Terminal as well and start work. It will take three years to complete the project,” an official said.
About 33,000 passengers travel through the 1,300 acres Chennai airport every day which also witnesses about 500 aircraft movements each day. With the new terminals, the passenger handling capacity of the airport will increase from 18 million to 35 million.
The new terminals, officials claimed, would have several murals and paintings and would showcase Tamil Nadu’s cultural heritage.
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“But we need to remember that beyond the glass facade and the fancy looks, what a passenger looks for in an airport are clean toilets, pass-through check-in and security checks that do not take hours to be completed. So, passenger amenities is what we need to focus on first,” another official said.