New terminal works at Vijayawada Airport to complete by year-end

The integrated terminal building works of Rs 470 crore at Vijayawada International Airport (VJA) near Gannavaram are progressing at a faster pace. The officials have fixed the year-end as the deadline to inaugurate the terminal building.

In 2018, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu conducted the bhoomi puja for the new 31,000 sq m.

From the total project cost, Rs 27.5 crore has been reserved for developing an apron worth Rs 60 crore for erecting an Air Traffic Control (ATC) Tower and Rs 54 crore for constructing aerobridges and improving other structures.

After completion, the terminal can accommodate 400 foreign and 800 domestic passengers at a single time. It is being built using precast steel and glass on the lines of Surat, Varanasi and Prayagraj airports. Other facilities are 24 check-in counters, six aerobridges, baggage conveyor belts at the arrival and departure blocks, 14 immigration, four custom counters and a CCTV monitoring cell.

The apron works worth Rs 27.5 crore will facilitate the parking of large aircraft such as Boeing 777 and 747.

Airport director P V Rama Rao said that the terminal building works were scheduled to be complete by August 2022, but the project progressed slowly and gained momentum with the decline of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said that the apron and foundation for the terminal building are complete. Works on a two-floor building with steel and glass structure with world-class facilities are ongoing. The new terminal is near the runway, so the passengers can walk on the aerobridge near the apron to reach the terminal building.

Currently, passengers are reaching the terminal in buses from the runway. After the new terminal building becomes operational, passengers can directly walk into the terminal building and reach the exit point.

Rao said that six aerobridge works are ongoing through which passengers can directly reach the exit point from the arrival and departure blocks. The designs for the aerobridge are ready, and works are undergoing.

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