The T3 terminal at Chennai airport will be pulled down next month to facilitate work on the remaining portion of the new integrated terminal at the airport, envisaged as part of the ₹2,467-crore phase 2 modernisation project.
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Officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said the contractor, who had been awarded the work, had started dismantling the electrical equipment from the T3 building. “We will take up the work to pull down this structure by next month and it would continue for at least 2-3 months. By early next year, we hope to start the next phase of construction to finish the new integrated terminal in entirety,” an official said.
The phase 2 project had been designed to be built in a phased manner over an area of 2,20,972 sq metres and when completed in 2025, the international terminal will be at the centre with two domestic terminals functioning on either side of it.
The first part of the new integrated terminal building, spread over an area of 1,36,295 sq. m., was inaugurated in April and the international flight operations were shifted to this terminal in July. The AAI had taken steps to start building the remaining portion of the new terminal building. Although officials had said the demolition of the T3 terminal would begin by June, it was being taken up only now.
When the entire new integrated terminal is completed in another two years, the capacity of Chennai airport would rise to 35 million passengers per annum from 17 million passengers now.