BIAL needs redesign: Praful Patel

Redo airport terminal: Praful Patel
The Times of India

Bangalore: Civil aviation minister Praful Patel has fired a salvo at the beleaguered Bangalore international airport project: He has demanded a redesign of the terminal and operations.

Patel told The Times of India over phone from Mumbai: “I examined the designs given by the BIAL along with their CEO Albert Brunner. The Bangalore airport design is not on a par with the other airports that are coming up in the rest of the country. I have told them I am not very happy with it.’’

Patel has asked the BIAL to come back with a re-design and meet him after three weeks. The minister pointed out that the under-construction airport, which is presently designed to handle 4.5 million passengers a year, will not be able to meet the projected traffic. “Traffic has already reached the level that old projections had given for 2010,’’ he said.

Patel has also raised objections to the design of the terminal building. He felt: “It is not as modern or futuristic as other designs that we have approved. I have asked them to take a re-look at it.’’ According to sources, Patel objected to the architectural design of granite flooring and columns which was planned to match the nativity of Bangalore and Karnataka. “He felt the flooring should be more simple, but has not made any specific demand,’’ they added.

BIAL has already been examining options of upscaling the first phase of the project to tackle 11.4 million passengers, thrice the present capacity plan. As per earlier traffic projections, the airport was expected to touch this high only by 2015.

“The technical and financial logistics of upscaling the project without affecting the present pace of construction is being worked out,’’ Brunner said. Board members met in Zurich last week to discuss it.

The airport plan has the capacity to be upscaled to cater to even 40 million passengers. But the real problem will be the documentation: Agreements and additional financing will have to be reworked to immediately upscale the project and that could take time. Result: Too much cannot be changed, as airport construction deadline is April 2, 2008.