PATNA: Union minister of state for civil aviation, General (retd) V K Singh, said on Monday that the new terminal building at Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport, Patna, would be ready by March 2024 as 54% of its work has been completed.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha to a question raised by Sushil Kumar Modi, General Singh said the state hangar, flying club building and VIP lounge at Patna airport would be ready by June next year.
"At Patna, Airports Authority of India (AAI) has undertaken the work of construction of control tower-cum-technical block, fire station and cargo building, new domestic terminal building and allied works and state hangars, flying club building, VIP lounge building and other associated works utilising Rs1216.90 crore. The probable dates of completion of these works are September 2022, March 2024 and June 2023, respectively. The physical progress of these works has been 91%, 54% and 54%, respectively," he informed the House.
The work of redevelopment of Patna airport was taken up in 2019. The two-storey terminal building will have the departure lounge on the first floor and arrival area on the ground floor. It will handle up to 80 lakh passengers per year.
With regard to Bihta airbase, General Singh said additional 199.5 acres of land has been sought from state government for operation of bigger aircraft.
Replying to another question by SuMo regarding the Bihta airport expansion, the minister submitted: "AAI has projected a land requirement of 191.5 acre to the state government for extension of runway to make it suitable for wide bodied aircraft in addition to a land requirement of eight acre for expansion of apron to accommodate wide bodied aircraft."
Though the Centre has been asking for more land, the state government claim that it has provide the land originally sought for commencing commercial flight operations from Bihta airbase. In a letter to the secretary, union civil aviation ministry, chief secretary Amir Subhani on February 18 stated that construction work should be initiated at the earliest on the land provided by the state government at Bihta airbase for development of civil enclave. The chief secretary had stated that 108 acres of land had been made available, as sought by the civil aviation ministry.
