GMR eyes non-aeronautical revenues to meet rising costs

NEW DELHI: With the modernisation cost of Indira Gandhi International Airport overshooting by over 60 per cent to nearly Rs 9,000 crore, GMR group, the promoter of Delhi International Airport, is eyeing non-aeronautical revenues to meet the cost escalation.

The cost has increased to over Rs 8,900 crore as various new construction works have been included after the GMR consortium got the contract for IGI airport, Chief Development Officer I Prabhakar Rao and Chief Operating Officer Andrew Harrison of GMR told reporters.

GMR was given the contract of the IGI airport at a cost of Rs 5,400 crore in early 2006. Though evasive on various queries related to meeting the additional burden of more than Rs 3,500 crore, the two officials of the GMR justified the increase in the cost saying "initially neither Express Metro rail was in the proposal nor building another terminal. These two at least justify the escalation of the cost of the project."

Asked as to how the company was going to meet the additional burden, Harrison said several proposals including increasing retail area (shopping place), airport hotels and other such non-aeronautical proposals were in offing.

The DIAL wants to reduce the share of aeronautical to non-aeronautical from existing 80-20 per cent respectively to either 60-40 or to 50-50 ratio, Harrison said, adding DIAL was keen in reducing the aeronautical charges.

The two officials preferred silence over tussle between the Centre and DIAL over revenue sharing of the two hotels at domestic and international airports. The Government has objected to floating of a separate company by GMR which would get the revenue earned out of hotels and other offices of various airlines.

Rao and Harrison said initially the airport was to be restructured for catering to 22 million passengers, a demand which has gone up to 45 million passengers per annum.

As far as other development work inside the airport was concerned, the two officials said considerable progress has been made to construct the third runway named as "11-29" by June next year.

"The runway with a length of 4,430 metres will be one of the longest runways in Asia and will feature CAT IIIB Instrument Landing System at both ends," Rao said, adding the width of 75 metres of the new runway would also cater to new generation large aircraft such as the Airbus A-380.

"The commissioning of the new runway will increase IGI airports capacity to handle aircraft movement substantially, making flight delays and congestion a thing of past," he said, adding nearly 52 per cent of the work has been completed. The new runway will have 15-km long taxiways and five rapid exit taxiways to reduce congestion, he said.

A new integrated passenger terminal-3, with an area of 20 acres, was being constructed which would serve both domestic and international passengers.

"The terminal will have 168 common check-in counters with an advanced five-level in-line baggage screening systems," he said, adding immigration would be a breeze for both arriving and departing passengers for whom 75 aerobridges have been built.