Air passengers will have to wait another month to use the new multi-level car parking at Chennai airport as the work has been delayed yet again. The new facility, which can accommodate over 2,000 cars, will go through a trial run only in January before being thrown open.
Officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said the construction was almost complete and that very little work was remaining after which they would carry out a trial run and then start the operation. The building was scheduled to be opened by April, then pushed to October and subsequently December.
“Initially, lack of resources due to COVID-19 and then more recently the intermittent rains in the city are some of the reasons for the delay but we are trying to make up for it. The work is nearly finished and we will open it soon,” an official said.
Sources said the road connectivity from the multi-level car parking facility to the terminals and the entry/exit of the airport have to be finished in a month after which it can be opened.
The ₹250 crore car parking facility spread over 4.25 acres has been under construction since 2019.
Earlier, the AAI had planned to have two towers for parking and later it was changed to one; similarly, they had envisaged to have commercial space for 3.3 lakh sq. ft but following the pandemic, they decided to bring it down to 2.5 lakh sq. ft.
In a refreshing change, the multilevel car parking will host a huge entertainment options for air passengers. There will be five multiplex screens, two food courts, retail shops, children’s engagement stores and other such facilities. But these may come up only after a couple of months, the officials said.
Officials said that at a time when the Chennai airport was getting back its passenger traffic, it was essential to have a bigger parking facility.
