Mihan seeks pvt firms to upgrade city airport

Nagpur: The dream of having an airport of international standard in the city has moved a step closer with Mihan India Limited (MIL) floating a bid for its upgrade, operation and maintenance.
The project is to be completed in four phases on public private partnership (PPP) basis at a cost of about 2,000 crore. The first phase is to be completed in four years, while the execution of the remaining phases will depend on the increase in growth of passenger traffic.
The airport will be handed over to the private player for a period of 30 years.
The first phase is the most ambitious one that involves construction of a new runway, new ATC tower, a new passenger terminal and a cargo terminal. The terminal building is to be expanded in the second phase.
In the third phase, a parallel taxiway for the existing and second runway and expansion of cargo terminal — both international and domestic — will be done. The terminal building will be further expanded in the last phase and a multilevel car parking will be constructed. The airport is to be developed to cater to an approximate capacity of 6.93 million passengers per annum (MPPA). The first phase is expected to have a capacity of 2.4 MPPA.
According to an official of Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC), the first phase will cost 1,420 crore. “The concessionaire will have to construct a new runway having a length of 3.2km. A parallel taxi track of 1.69km, south of the runway and the taxi lane for the movement of aircraft for push back will have to built. Construction of the new air traffic control (ATC) tower and associated ATC block, new main fire station with static tanks are also the part of the first phase,” he said.
The first phase also includes a new passenger terminal building (having an area 43,250 sq m) for domestic and international passengers together with associated apron and taxiways and refurbishing of existing terminal building. A cargo terminal (international — 1,000 sq m and domestic — 1,600 sq m) with associated apron for cargo aircraft and the necessary taxiways, power station, car parking, etc will also be built.
The second phase costing Rs210 crore will comprise expansion of terminal building (level 2), apron (hangar) for passenger aircraft (4 bays), development of car parking facility for various category of visitors.
The third phase works will include extension of the second runway by 800 metres and construction of a parallel taxiway for second runway having length of 4km and a parallel taxiway for the existing runway. The expansion of international and domestic cargo terminal, apron for cargo terminal will be done in this phase which will cost 234 crore.
In the fourth phase costing 118 crore, the terminal building will be expanded, another four bays for aircraft will be constructed and a multilevel car parking will be developed.