The Hindu : New Delhi News : Pre-Investment Board clears Kolkata airport project

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Pre-Investment Board clears Kolkata airport project

Special Correspondent

Work likely to begin within two months
Buddhadeb meets Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

NEW DELHI: The Pre-Investment Board (PIB) on Friday cleared a Rs. 1,942.5 crore project to revamp the Kolkata airport. The work is expected to start within two months.

The project, to be implemented by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), would now be taken up for consideration by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, an official statement said.

Earlier in the day, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought expeditious clearance of the airport modernisation work.

The government decided to modernise the Kolkata airport in April 2007 and the AAI submitted the proposal to the PIB in August last.

Design competition

The AAI conducted a “Global Architectural Design Competition” for the design of terminals to make it a truly world-class airport that can handle about 20 million passengers annually. The existing international and domestic terminals handle nearly five million passengers a year.

In October last, an Inter-Ministerial Group cleared the proposal and the Planning Commission gave an in principle approval for the development of the airport in December. The AAI has fixed June 16 as the date for opening of tenders for the construction.

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