Ludhiana: If all goes well, then the work of the civil terminal building of Halwara international airport may start from April end. Meanwhile, Public Works Department (PWD) officials have said that about one fourth of the boundary wall work of the airport has already been completed.
On December 15 last year, foundation stone to construct the boundary wall of the airport was laid by Fatehgarh Sahib MP Amar Singh. That was little over a week after the work of carpeting the approach road for the new Halwara international airport got started.
An AAI officer while asking not to be named said that they had shared the documents about the scope of work to be carried out for the construction of terminals with the PWD department about one and half months ago. He added that as there were some queries from the department concerned, they sent the revised scope of work documents to it about two week back.
“We want that they should start work as early as possible, so that we can shift operations to Halwara as it has an edge over Sahnewal airport in many ways, including landing at less visibility, longer runway, etc. But it is up to the department concerned to get work done as soon as possible,” said the AAI officer.
The PWD, roads and buildings (B&R) wing, authorities said that estimates and tender documents for the civil terminal were being made. “We have received the revised scope of work documents and accordingly, estimates and tender documents were being made. Hopefully, the documents will be ready in about a month after which the tender will be floated for construction of the civil terminal. I think work on the project may start in the next two and half months,” executive engineer, PWD (B&R) wing, Rakesh Garg said.
The PWD officials said that work on the boundary wall construction is going on in full swing. They added that the construction of about 2,300m brick wall boundary, having a height of 10 feet and is 2 feet barbed wire on that, is being constructed at a cost of around Rs 3 crore.
“About 20-25% of the work of the boundary wall has been carried out till now. The columns have been constructed and brick work has been already started,” the officer said. “Work of the boundary wall is expected to be completed in six months after it was started.” He added that they were trying their best to complete the construction of the civil terminal by this year end.
AAI officials said that the airport building would have three terminals, including international, domestic and cargo terminals. They added that the airport terminal complex would be state of the art with the latest equipment, including cute (common user interface terminal) system, inland baggage, face recognition system for walk through identification facility for passengers, etc.
Meanwhile, residents are eagerly waiting for start of the work of terminal buildings of the airport.
“We want that the infrastructure of the Halwara airport should be completed soon as we expect this airport to help industry, professionals and other persons from Ludhiana and adjoining areas,” said Vijay Kumar, a city-based industrialist. He added that the coming up of the international airport would help area residents in many ways and many of them would be able to set up businesses in the area.