DIAL heads for Rs. 16,000-cr expansion

In its quest to cater to the surging air traffic on the IGIA airport in Delhi, the operator of the aviation facility, Delhi International Airport (Pvt.) Ltd (DIAL) in a recent move has sought environmental clearance to start the mega expansion plan at an investment of Rs. 16,000cr. The green nod is needed to build the fourth runway by expanding existing terminals, construct a new one, and build supporting infrastructure, said official sources, claiming that the GMR-backed consortium plans to construct the fourth runway and expand the bursting-at-the-seams T1 by 2020 under 'Phase 3a', which will increase IGIA's passenger handling capacity to 7.5 crore passengers per annum. As per plans, this phase will soon see the T2 being used for budget domestic flights by shifting one or two of the low-cost carriers that currently operate from T1. Facilitating the expansion, may also witness the Centaur Hotel demolition to house the fourth runway and its accompanying infrastructure of taxiways and exit-ways. This airstrip will come up parallel to the airport's newest runway (29) and be of the same length at 4,430 metres. The airport operator has decided to ready the expansion of T1's annual passenger handling capacity from the current 18 million to 30 million in four years. The moment work on T1 is complete, DIAL may demolish T2 and construct T4 there in 'Phase 3b' and the entire plan is scheduled to be commissioned by 2025 when the combined capacity of IGIA will be about 9.2 crore per annum, they claimed.