Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao wants to see a quick expansion of the Shamshabad International Airport to meet the growing air traffic, and extension of the Metro Rail project to the airport, among other plans.
At a review meeting on Tuesday held at Pragathi Bhavan with officials of GMR, the company that runs the airport, the Chief Minister said that the present terminal must be extended and a second runway constructed. Since Hyderabad is becoming a venue for international conferences, a convention centre and exhibition centres should also be constructed. The state government will extend its support to anyone undertaking the project and he will be present at the groundbreaking ceremony, he promised.
GMR Group chairman Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao, airport business chairman Srinivas Bommidala, business chairman BVN Rao, airport CEO S.G.K. Kishore, director Prasanna and others participated in the meeting.
GMR representatives informed the Chief Minister that the airport, which started operations in 2008, has become number one in the world and has topped the list in IT services and other areas.
The airport caters to 400 flights a day and every year 1.70 crore passengers use its services. GMR representatives said that passenger traffic grew at a rate of seven per cent before formation of Telangana state and it reached 20.4 per cent after the formation of the state and is expected to increase in the near future. The existing runway and terminal will serve 2.5 crore passengers but with the expected growth, another terminal and a second runway are essential, and the second runway will be built in the next three years, they said.
The Chief Minister told the GMR representatives that infrastructure should be such that even if there are five crore passengers there should not be any problem. He then expounded his vision of a grand airport city, spread over 600 acres with a convention hall to accommodate 12,000 people, a huge exhibition area, star hotels, malls, hospitals, gardens, and ample parking.
The airport city should enhance the brand image of Hyderabad city, the Chief Minister declared.
Mr Mallikarjuna Rao gave the Chief Minister a cheque of Rs 12.28 crore, which is the TS government’s share of the dividend (13 per cent) from the earnings of the airport.
