Work on Durgapur airport to begin in April

Kolkata, Jan 21: Bengal Aerotropolis will start work on the proposed airport at Durgapur in West Bengal in April and expects to complete it by 2011-end, the company said here Thursday.

"We want to create similar amenities and facilities that have been created at Singapore," said Wong Woon Liong, chief executive of Changi Airports India, which holds 26 percent in Bengal Aerotropolis.

He was addressing a conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

Larsen and Toubro, Simplex and Tantia Construction are among the companies in the fray for the contract to construct the airport.

Bengal Aerotropolis, along with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corp (WBIDC), is developing the Rs.10,000-crore project to come up on 2,182 acres, with 650 acres being earmarked for the airport.

The aerotropolis will also house aviation-related infrastructure like an aviation academy.

There are also plans to build an industrial park with factories, office parks, information technology park, institutional area, with a hospital, market, school, theme park, community centre and residences.

Changi Airports India is a 100 percent subsidiary of Singapore's Changi Airport International.