AAI awaits transfer of Sahnewal airport in its name to begin Halwara work

LUDHIANA: It seems it will take more time before work on the much touted Halwara International Airport will begin. An Airport Authority of India (AAI) officer has said approval might be granted by the agency after the state government gets mutation of Sahnewal airport done in AAI’s name. Meanwhile, district administration officials aver that it is procedural thing and will be done.
An AAI officer, on condition of anonymity, said the AAI board approves such projects before the file is signed by the chairman. He added that as part of the memorandum signed between the AAI and the state government, the latter had to get mutation of land at Sahnewal airport in the name of AAI apart from Halwara airport, wherein a joint venture company will be formed.
“The project of development of Halwara International Airport will cost us around Rs 500 crore.Why will AAI invest such huge money if it is not gaining much. The state government must transfer Sahnewal airport, owned by it and from where we are operating, to AAI. Once that is done, we will get approval from higher authorities after which work will start. We too want early shifting of operations from Sahnewal to Halwara, which has better facilities,” said AAI officer.
Executive engineer public works department , building and roads wing, (PWD) Rakesh Garg said they are yet to get approval for the project work from AAI. District administration said the necessary steps will be taken.
“It is not in my notice and will ask aviation authorities about it (mutation of land) tomorrow. However, we have got directions to get mutation (of Sahnewal Airport land) done in their name. It is just a procedural thing,” said Ludhiana deputy commissioner (DC) Varinder Sharma.
The AAI officer also revealed that they have plan ready for the Halwara project. He added that they have decided that the construction of boundary wall of the airport will be done by PWD.
“Once we get approval, we will try that the work on the airport building having three terminals — international, domestic and cargo — takes place simultaneously with the boundary wall construction,” said the officer. He added that the airport terminal will be a state of the art complex with latest equipment, including Cute (Common User Interface Terminal) system, inland baggage, face recognition system for walk through identification of passengers.
On July 22, during a review meeting of the project, DC Sharma had said the estimate of Rs 21 crore for construction of 4-km long retaining wall and road leading to the airport have been forwarded to the state government. He had said once this gets cleared, the construction work in this regard would start soon.
The DC also said 4-km long retaining wall would be constructed around the 161.2703 acres acquired for the construction of civil terminal of Halwara International Airport. He had added that 26 acres have been earmarked for the construction of a taxi stand, food court, a five-star hotel, two-storey shops, besides other amenities, while 135 acres would be used for constructing the civil terminal.
He said the road leading to the airport site would also be widened and the PWD and the officials have been directed to start the work on the boundary wall of the international airport at the earliest.