The rejection of the State government’s request by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to complete the remaining unfinished work of the Gulbarga Airport was said to be the main reason behind the decision of the Sate government to hand over the work of completing the construction to the Public Works Department.
The technical team of the AAI which inspected the Gulbarga Airport site on March 10 and 11, in its report dated April 29, had assessed the cost of the remaining work at Rs. 74 crore and suggested to the State government to entrust the responsibility of completing the remaining work in the airport to the PWD and offered its (AAI’s) technical assistance in the construction if necessary.
Municipal Administration Minister Qamarul Islam said here on Saturday that the PWD would execute the work and complete the left out portion of work in Gulbarga Airport.
He clarified that the Hyderabad Karnataka Region Development Board (HKRDB) would not be extending any financial support in the construction of the Gulbarga Airport and the entire portion of funding would be done by the State government.
Technical expertise
Talking to presspersons here, Mr. Qamarul said the PWD would avail the technical expertise of the AAI while completing the work of Gulbarga Airport.
The M/x RITES would conduct the third party inspection of the work to ensure quality of construction as per the norms of the AAI. Mr. Qamarul said that the PWD is likely to take up the work of construction of the airport shortly and only the portions of terminal building, tarmac, extending the runway and few other minor works were left to be completed.
Completion
He said that the work was expected to be completed within six months and the airport would be ready for operation next year.
The State government has also gave its administrative approval for taking up the construction of the Ring Road in Bidar at a cost of Rs. 61 crore, he said.
Rs. 47.76 crore would be spent by the HKRDB for the development of the entire ring road.
‘The State government would completely fund the remaining work’