Vijayawada: Ground works for construction of European styled swanky new terminal for Vijayawada Airport in the airport area at Gannavaram began a couple of days ago and is going to enter main phase of construction.

With the aim to complete the construction of brand new terminal in next eight months to one year, airport authorities have already marked land opposite to the existing terminal and acquired all required permissions to go ahead with construction. Bushes and trees spread in the five acre plot are already removed after clearance from forest department and is awaiting soil tests.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapati Raju are likely to lay foundation stone for the new terminal constructions after soil tests.
It may be worth mentioning that the Chief Minister a couple of weeks ago announced that Vijayawada Airport which is most important for AP capital region would be developed at the earliest to increase air traffic.

After getting a nod from Airports Authority of India, plans were drafted by top infrastructure companies like GVK and GMR and the airport engineers are executing the plan.
While the existing terminal building is located in centre and beside runway, the upcoming terminal will come up little closer to the National Highway and behind the Airport staff quarters. This terminal will serve as an interim infrastructure before the permanent terminal comes up.

This will also be close to the Doppler Very High Frequency Omni-Directional Range (DOVR) equipment which is crucial for all communication systems. It will be moved to faraway place after land acquisition is done as it needs at least 150 metres of free space on all sides.

The cost of the terminal will be between Rs 30 crore and Rs 50 crore. However, this terminal will be used as passenger terminal until permanent terminal to be constructed on world class standards and sized as big as Hyderabad's Airport comes up in next three years. For this, the AAI have to acquire land from nearby villages.

On the other hand, a new road connecting the National Highway and new terminal would be laid to shorten the distance to terminal.

Airport director M. Raja Kishore as the development of airport is most sought demand we are developing swanky terminal before the permanent terminal is finalised. While this in the meanwhile serves all needs, in three years permanent terminal will be constructed, he added. All this is not to waste funds and ensure no delay in giving new look to the airport, Mr Kishore said.