Cargo facilities to be must at new airports

NEW DELHI: Airport developers, such as GMR, GVK and CIAL, would now have to provide comprehensive cargo facilities at all new greenfield airports. The government is planning to make this condition mandatory in the proposed air cargo policy which is to be finalised within three months.

For business reasons, many developers are already building cargo facilities, however, they are not bound to do so. The proposed policy will also stipulate dedicated cargo area at all existing airports, including those being developed by private operators.

A consultant may be brought on board for advising on making cargo facilities mandatory in the new policy. Airport developers would also shoulder the responsibility of suggesting measures for reducing dwell time at airports. A separate system to speed and spruce up ground handling facilities would also be suggested by the consulting firm.

���The new policy document will be shared with all stakeholders before being finalised by the government,��� K N Srivastava, joint secretary, ministry of civil aviation had said at a meeting with the industry. End-users will also be consulted at the concept and design stage for setting up new terminals.

Through the policy, the government wants to ensure that cargo operations and terminals at all airports (AAI, PPP and private) are efficiently run and charges remain reasonable for freight forwarders, an official said. Air freight, both domestic and international, is growing rapidly in India.

Total international cargo is expected to go up from 1020 tonne in 2006-2007 to 1,745 tonne by 2011-2012, growing by more than 70%. Domestic air cargo movement is also expected to go up 56% from 528 tonne in 2006-07 to 828 tonne in 2011-2012.

The government had asked an inter-ministerial group (IMG) under the chairmanship of civil aviation secretary Ashok Chawla to find ways to reduce dwell time at airports.

Meanwhile, the civil aviation ministry asked all airport operators, including GMR group-led Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), to reduce free period for import cargo to 72 hours from five working days. It has also reduced free period for airlines for export cargo to 48 hours from four working days.

While dwelling time for imported cargo in Singapore is 12 hours, at Delhi airport it takes 165 hours. At Sharjah airport, the dwell time for export cargo is a mere four hours.