Finally, new international airport terminal comes up, allied works pick up pace in Ludhiana

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, December 18

Finally, the integrated civil enclave and cargo terminal at the Air Force Station in Halwara, which is one of the oldest frontline airbases of the Indian Air Force (IAF), close to Ludhiana, has come up, the government has confirmed.

Besides the terminal building, the work on sub-station and toilet block has also been completed while the allied works of the Rs 47-crore civil aviation project have picked up pace to be completed by February next, officials have said.

With all pending nods having been procured, the work on all other components, which were stalled since long, has been put in top gear to ensure that the new international airport takes off by February 28 next.

The development assumes significance as the Union Civil Aviation Ministry had recently granted all pending approvals to the project and had assured to launch flights from here once the airport gets operational.

Rajya Sabha MP from Ludhiana, Sanjeev Arora, told The Tribune on Monday that the ongoing construction work has already reached the advanced stage of completion with the overall progress of the mega project has crossed the 96 per cent mark.

Arora, who reviewed the progress of the project, said bad weather and pending approvals had delayed the ongoing work but now it had been taken up on a war-footing. “Now, the construction firm has committed to complete the ongoing works by February next,” he revealed.

He said the state government had so far released a sum of Rs 30 crore to complete the ongoing balance work of the upcoming international airport and the demand of balance funds had already been forwarded to Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) and the Civil Aviation Department, which had been mandated to jointly bear the financial burden.

Divulging the component-wise status, the MP said the construction of the interim terminal building, sub-station and toilet block had been completed. These components of the airport were being given the finishing touches before handing them over to the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

He said the balance work, which was allotted on April 13 with a time limit of completion in five months, was scheduled to be completed by September 12 but due to the bad weather and delay in the mandatory nods, the job would now be finished by February 28 next.

While the upcoming approach road to the airport campus has been completed 40 per cent, the planning and preparation of design of approach road to airport campus, bridge at entry of approach road, and allied works on the premises of the IAF base have already been done and the work on it will start shortly to be completed by February 28, 2024.

“A proposal for enhancing the work of already engaged agencies has already been submitted to the government for approval,” the officials concerned told Arora.

Recently, the AAI and the IAF had granted in-principle approvals to undertake the balance work at the upcoming airport.

Since the new integrated civil enclave and cargo terminal are coming up at the Air Force Station in Halwara, the formal nod of the IAF was mandatory to undertake the work inside the Air Force-governed areas.

With this, all pending approvals for the mega civil aviation project had been granted and the work to undertake balance tasks has taken off on the ground.

Following the delay in the approvals, several components of the project had remained suspended for a long time and had got much delayed.

The MP said the IAF had also given its nod to widen internal taxiways in the upcoming civil enclave.

All stops pulled: MP

“By procuring all pending approvals and taking up the remaining work to build the new international airport on a war-footing, all stops have been pulled to complete the ambitious project at the earliest,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.

He said the Union Civil Aviation Ministry had already begun the process to launch the flight operations by the time a new airport comes up.

Of the total allocation of Rs 50 crore by the state government, Rs 30 crore had already been transferred while the total requirement estimated so far was of Rs 45 crore.

For this purpose, the Finance Department (FD) has released Rs 30 crore while the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUDD) through GLADA has undertaken to bear the expenditure of Rs 20 crore.

To take off soon: CM

"We are in the process of making the airport operational shortly following which more domestic and new international flights will be launched from here. We have been providing all requisite support to finish the ongoing work at the earliest," CM Bhagwant Mann said.

Tasks cleared

• Peripheral road crust finalised
• Apron, taxiway designs approved
• Specified designs for the IAF-governed areas submitted
• IAF nod to widen internal taxiways

PROJECT REPORT

Total area: 161.28 acres

Terminal area: 2,000 sq m

Awarded cost: Rs 3,876.65 lakh

Boundary wall, approach road cost: Rs 309.33 crore

Missed deadlines: January, June 2022, June, July, August 15, August 30, September 30, October 30, 2023

Fresh deadline: Feb 28, 2024

Name proposed

• Vidhan Sabha had unanimously adopted a resolution to request Centre to name airport after Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha. The CM had said it would be a humble tribute to the martyr who laid down his life for motherland.

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