Plane sailing: 20% work complete

Plane sailing: 20% work complete
The Times of India

Devanahalli (Bangalore rural): The road to the airport is the first indication that Bangalore’s 10-year-old dream is taking concrete shape: The access road from the NH-4 to the Bangalore international airport site has been levelled and the first layer of granular sub-base (GSB) prior to asphalting has been laid.

As things stand at the end of 10 months, about 20% of the airport construction work is complete, with work ahead of schedule in several aspects.

The S shape of the runway has been formed, GSB has been laid on about 2.5 km of the 4 km runway. And there is a sense of burning urgency among the 2,000 workmen on site to get this protective layer finished on all surfaces — runway, taxiway, two access roads and an air side road before monsoon hits by June.

“We are doing all that is possible. If the GSB is not done, and rains come down like they did last October, the mud that has been levelled will break or wash away and we will have to do everything again,’’ Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) chief projects officer Sivaramakrishnan S Iyer said.

The runway, taxiway and apron area, all cleared and levelled, stand on the exact spot where the erstwhile Arasinakunte village was located. Workmen are filling in an open well — the last visible reminder of that village barely an year ago.
Eleven buildings are in various stages. The contentious terminal building — that the Union civil aviation minister Praful Patel wants expanded — is about 400 metres from the runway. The basement of this sprawling building has been completed, the ground floor is being laid.

Engineering for the redesign of this building that will expand its capacity to handle 11.4 million passengers per year instead of 4.5 million is still going on. But work on the terminal building will not be hampered: The final design has to reach the construction site latest by February 2007, which is nine months away.

The administrative block, which was the first building to be taken up, is structurally complete with two floors. Plastering work and grooves for electricity and plumbing is taking place.

The Air Traffic Control tower, that will be a dizzying 65 metres high (213.42 feet) is being built at the rate of 2.5 metres every 10 days using a selfclimbing crane.

10th month report card

Work is under way on:

• Airport’s technical aspects and finances redesign.
• Terminal building ground and first floor.
•Technical and administrative building electrical, plastering, plumbing work.
• ATC tower.
• Boundary wall on the North, East and South sides continuing.
• Runway and taxiway being formed.
• Apron earthwork started.
•Main access road, secondary access road and air side services road on.
• Air rescue and fire fighting building.
• Ground support engineering building.
• Six other auxiliary buildings on.