Pact for new international airport at Mohali Friday

New Delhi, Jan 3 - A new international airport will soon come up at Mohali in Punjab for which a formal pact is being signed between the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority Friday.

The new airport is expected to cost Rs.4.5 billion ($112.5 million).

The AAI and the Mohali authority will form a 51:49 joint venture to develop and operate the new international airport, which will come up near Chandigarh, the picturesque capital of Punjab and Haryana, officials said Thursday.

The airport will cater to around 700 passengers at a time, with four aerobridges and eight remote parking bays for wide-bodied jet aircraft, the officials said, adding the existing Chandigarh airport will also get a new terminal building.

'Government of Punjab has been requested to give approximately 300 acres of land identified on the other side of the runway with independent access from the city side,' said a statement from the civil aviation ministry.

Besides a modular terminal building and boarding bridges, the new airport will also have a cargo complex, parallel taxi track, three-link taxiway and hangars for a flying club, the statement added.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and senior officials from the ministry and the AAI will be among those present when the pact is formally signed for the new airport and to lay the foundation stone for a new terminal at Chandigarh.

According to ministry officials, an informal nod has already been given to start weekly or bi-weekly flights to Dubai from October and subsequently to London, Vancouver and other cities overseas, depending on the demand generated.

Another international airport in Punjab, the Rajasansi International Airport at Amritsar, handles over 65 overseas flights a week, the officials added.

(c) Indo-Asian News Service

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