Modernisation work of Kolkata airport satisfactory: minister

Kolkata, Jan 4 : The modernisation work of the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport was progressing satisfactorily, Union Minister of State for Urban Development Saugata Roy Monday said of the Rs.2,000-crore project slated to be completed in 2011.

"About 2,200 people are working at the site and 21 percent of the work has been completed. The progress of the work is satisfactory," Roy told reporters after a meeting of the NSCBI Airport Advisory Committee at the airport here. He is the chairman of the committee.

The work is scheduled to be over by August 2011. After modernisation, the airport would be able to handle about 20 million passengers annually, he said.

A single-point security check for passengers at the ground floor of the domestic departure terminal would be introduced in the coming months, Airport Director K. Srinivasan said.

Apart from that there will also be a shopping arcade inside the security hold area, a hotel booking counter and a business air terminal for crew and passengers of non-scheduled flights.

"The business air terminal for non-scheduled flights was being built at a cost of Rs.4 crore. The Airports Authority of India is expected to net Rs.5 lakh per month from the users," Srinivasan said.

Problems relating to harassment of passengers by touts and taxi operators were also discussed at the meeting.

The AAI had already written to the West Bengal government to hand over the pre-paid taxi operation to the state police, but was yet to get a response.

An AAI official indicated that at present there was no need to install CAT-III Instrument Landing System (ILS) at the NSCBI Airport given the frequency of low visibility during fog.

Airlines were now safely landing in low visibility with the help of CAT-II ILS, he added.