Work on temporary building of Halwara airport to start soon

Ludhiana: If all goes well, the work on the temporary building at the Halwara airport may be started in next one and half months as the local AAI officials are in the process of seeking approval about the same from their headquarters.
Recently, deputy commissioner Varinder Sharma, who had visited the site, where the civil terminal is to come up, had said that work on the internal airport would start in two weeks time. On May 23, the then deputy commissioner, Pradeep Kumar Agrawal, had declared in the presence of additional chief administrator (ACA) Glada Bhupinder Singh that the 161.27 acres required for the construction of this civil terminal had been acquired at Aitiana village in Raikot and the possession of the said land had been taken.
Giving details, a senior officer of AAI while asking not to be named said that though Glada had shared with them the draft coordinates of the land, which is a map related to four sides of the acquired land, they were still waiting for a signed copy of the same. He added that after they would send the same to the architecture wing of their planning directorate, it would make the drawing of the infrastructure to come up at the site.
An AAI officer said that they had sought the approval for start of work on 2000 sq m porta cabin (which is a temporary terminal building) from the AAI board and expect to get the same next week. He added that after they get the designs, they would give the same to the state government so that work could get started.
“We expect that we will get the necessary documents and approval in 10 days and in next one to one and half months, the work on porta cabin should start at the site. Once it is started, it takes roughly three months for the structure to come up. After the structure coes up, we will shift operations from Sahnewal to Halwara and we think it will take around five months from now to do that,” said the officer. He added that it will take around two to three years for the airport project to be completed.
The deputy commissioner had said that the road leading to the airport site would be widened and the PWD, buildings and roads (B&R), officials have been directed to start the work on the boundary wall of the international airport at the earliest. He added that with the start of the international flights from Halwara airport, the area would develop as a business hub that would boost the economy of the state.
A source in the district administration said that PWD is making the estimate of the boundary wall construction after which the construction work will be started. He added that most probably the concrete boundary wall would be constructed soon.
The district administration said that with the construction of this international airport, the long pending demand of the Ludhiana residents will be fulfilled.
“The Punjab government is making efforts to ensure that this airport becomes operational in next two and half years. The first phase of the project will include development of a new international civil terminal over an area of 135.54 acres for full-fledged operations of Code-4C type aircraft,” it added.
The Government of Punjab and the Airport Authority of India had signed the agreement for a joint venture for setting up a new civil and cargo international air terminal on land of Aitiana village in Raikot tehsil at the IAF station, Halwara, Ludhiana. The coming up of this international airport will boost economic development and will generate employment opportunities and bring in tourism in the area.
An AAI officer said the airport terminal complex will be state of art with latest equipments including CUTE (Common User Interface Terminal) system, inland baggage, face recognition system for walk through identification facility for passengers, etc.