June debut for domestic terminal in Gujarat

At last, the swanky new terminal, which was under construction for last three years, will start functioning by June 2010. The civil aviation minister Praful Patel made this announcement at the fourth Vishwa Gujarati Parishad on Friday. Interestingly, the minister said that the inauguration of the terminal was delayed by only three months when it was supposed to have started functioning in March 2009.

It is noteworthy that the swanky terminal costs more than Rs300 crore. Earlier, it was decided that the terminal was to be used for international operations but now it will be operational only for domestic purposes. According to sources, the change in the plan will cost the Airports Authority of India (AAI) more than Rs50 crore as the existing terminals (both domestic and international) will be merged for international operations.

However, when DNA asked the reason behind the civil aviation ministry's change in plan, the minister refused to comment.

"This is the irony for AAI. We are already facing liquidity crunch and there is hardly any attempt to recover the money from airlines.

Even in near future we hardly see any monetary benefit coming from the city airport. As of now, no international airline is willing to announce their operations, which was forecasted before starting the Rs300 crore project," said a source.

The source added that the city airport lacks basic amenities but there is hardly any attempt to improve this situation. "For example, the Air Traffic Control department has to be upgraded immediately. It needs equipment and a new building, but for the last five years the civil aviation ministry hasn't done anything."