The Hindu Business Line : Hoping for smooth airport transition

As the clock ticks for the opening of the new Bangalore airport at Devanahalli — 35 km from central business district and five months away — various stakeholders are waking up to ground realities and praying that the transition from the HAL airport will not be Bangalore’s new nightmare.

At a round table organised by the Bangalore Chamber of Industries and Commerce here, bureaucrats heading the nodal Infrastructure Development Department (IDD); the Bangalore Metro Transport Corporation (BMTC) that runs the city bus services and the civic body, Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP), assured them that their agencies were racing against time to pull all stops to a smooth passage by the D-day, March 30, 2008.

Apart from a smooth access, corporate honchos, service providers and citizens aired doubts about cargo movement, modes and cost of transit, security, lighting among others.

How to commute on a single, narrow, choked NH7, which itself is 60-90 minutes from most points in the city, was the biggest concern.

“We had planned the trumpet exchange on NH7 (with three road over bridges for movement from either side of the airport) to be opened by the airport opening date,” said the Principal Secretary, IDD, Mr V.P. Baligar. “Road over bridge 3 was in litigation and the second stay was cleared only last week. Every link road will be ready by airport opening date but we aren’t sure whether the road to the airport would be ready in the form we have conceived.”

Mr Albert Brunner, Managing Director of Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), said, “That there will be a new airport here has been known for six-seven years. Now, we are being blamed for being on time. It’s high time that we did something about accessibility.”

Flyover row

The trumpet flyover, he said, “was not our business. NHAI chose a contractor who has never built a bridge. We took over three months back and we will do it.”

BIAL presented its Airport Readiness Programme to the Ministry of Civil Aviation last week. The plan covers handling of flight operations, maintenance, passengers, cargo, luggage and fuel supply, among others. Now, BIAL has formed special task groups to work on all aspects of transition. He said an update would be given in three months.

Dr S. Subrahmanya, BMP Commissioner, said Bangalore has 34 lakh vehicles and adding 1,000 each day.

REALITY CHECK

BIAL is building the trumpet flyover from NH7 into the airport at Rs 110 crore; is willing to invest in a 33-km, Rs 3,700-crore dedicated express rail link that will reach airport in 23 minutes. The hitch is it is yet to be approved and five years away.

BIAL is tying up with airport cab services to ply 1,000 cars. PWD is developing 46 alternative routes, bypasses and upgrades to SH at Rs 1,000 crore. Eighty per cent will be ready by airport opening date, including three ring roads.

NHAI is planning a eight-lane main access to NH7 for which land acquisition may take three years.

An expressway as an alternative to NH7 is still on the drawing board.

BMTC has ordered 40 Volvo pick-up buses from city points and is ready for another 1,000.

Bangalore airport now handles 1.6 lakh tonnes and BIAL is installing a capacity of 3 lakh tonnes through two cargo handlers. One or two more may be added if needed. A cargo village on some 7 acres is being planned near the airport for small freight forwarders.

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