Karnataka   

Dogged by delay

Considering the growth in passenger movement at Bajpe (Mangalore) airport in the past five years, the Airports Authority of India (AA) wants to build a new integrated terminal building, apron and associated facilities there at an estimated cost of Rs. 147 crore at the earliest. But, the State Government, maybe, wants that the project gets delayed.

Otherwise, is four years not enough for the State Government to build a small road from Karambar to Kenjar, the site of the new terminal building?

The length of the road is less than 2 km.

In 2003, the AAI requested the Government that the road be built as it helped transport goods and other material to the site of terminal building and apron (Apron covers parking stands for aircraft, area for keeping ramp and other equipment for loading and unloading of cargo).

Moreover, when the road is laid and new terminal building is commissioned, the distance between the city and the airport will be reduced by approximately eight km. With this, passengers could save time and the transporters fuel and expenditure.

Sources in the AAI said the State Government had not yet acquired a part of the land from a private party for laying the road. The land belongs to an educational institution.

The AAI has now begun work on the construction of the terminal building and apron as it cannot prolong the project anymore.

The only alternative is to use the perimeter road on the premises of the airport. This road is in the operational area of aircraft. It can use this road only for a short duration in a day. Otherwise, movement of trucks, excavators, and other machinery will come in the way of aircraft operation.

“We have taken up the work with great difficulty and risk. We can use the perimeter road only temporarily. It cannot be a permanent access to transport workers, machinery and vehicles to the construction site,” an AAI official said.

A senior official in the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) here said the corporation proposed to lay a two-lane road to a length of 920 metres from Karambar (on Mangalore-Bajpe road) towards the site of terminal building. But the KUIDFC had not given final approval to take up this roadwork. Tenders for this road was finalised in March, 2006 for Rs. 9 crore. The contract was awarded in November, 2006. There will be two ‘U’ turns on this 920-m road.

An expert from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, has recommended that the four-lane road to the site could not be laid as the hillock on which the road had to be laid was weak.

It has also been proposed to strengthen a stretch of 1.1 km between Malavoor and Karambar on Mangalore-Bajpe road. The KUIDFC officials here are waiting for the green signal from the Government to take up the roadwork.

Raviprasad Kamila in Mangalore

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