Mumbai airport upgrade master plan sent to Delhi
A 20-year master plan, detailing the development of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, was today submitted by R K Jain, President (Business Development) of Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) to Ajay Prasad, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation in Delhi.
While MIAL is tightlipped about the details of the blueprint, the Operation, Management, Development Agreement (OMDA) signed with the government in April lists a set of mandatory capital projects that need to be completed by March 31, 2010. These include—new high-speed exit taxiways, international cargo terminal, domestic apron expansion, new domestic terminal car park, new access road to the international terminal etc.
In fact, every major development entailing expenditure in excess of Rs 100 crore will require a major development plan to be prepared by the consortium. Additionally, an integrated terminal under a one roof concept is envisaged, which will handle domestic and international traffic. The terminal will also be connected to the city by the metro, add sources.
On June 2, MIAL contracted Netherlands Airports Consultants B V (NACO) for the development of the master plan. As Lead Technical Advisor, a team of experts from NACO—consultants in airport design, their other projects include developing Beijing and Johannesburg airports—led by Bart Bolding, project manager, have laboured over the same for months now.
A major challenge was the fact that the airport is severely congested and surrounded by squatter areas and 24-hour operations have to be guaranteed at all times, says the NACO website.
MIAL has also appointed Changi Airport, Singapore, to review the master plan, which will happen over the next week.
While increasing airport capacity is top priority, experts say the airport—currently Indias busiest—will reach saturation, sooner rather than later. The maximum estimated capacity Mumbai airport will be able to cater to will be about 30-40 million by 2012, says Kapil Kaul, CEO Indian subcontinent, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), a specialist aviation consulting services provider. Unconstrained growth projections suggest a capacity of 85 million passengers by 2025 for Mumbai, but the constraints at the airport—most importantly unavailability of land—will be a hurdle.
Over the next seven years, MIAL—the 74:26 joint venture between GVK and Airports Authority of India (AAI)—plans to invest Rs 5,800 crore towards the modernisation of the airport.
MIAL will operate, manage and develop the airport for 30 years, with an option of extension of the term for an additional 30 years.