By Vipin Agnihotri
If you have plan a trip to Bangalore by air this year, my suggestion is to avoid it for some time. This is because of the simple reason that the new international airport at Devanahalli will open on March 30, but the roads connecting it to the city will take some time to shape up.
Most of the industrialists are urging government to retain the existing HAL airport till the roads are in order. But looks like Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) are in no mood to listen. According to BIAL sources, you cannot have one airport for long haul and another for short-haul flights.
It is worth mentioning in this regard that Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), the defense aerospace public sector undertaking, will lose Rs 150 crore on a yearly basis because of the closure of the present airport.
In my opinion, Bangalore’s air traffic is showing signs of tremendous growth, forcing BIAL to enhance airport capacity by 40 percent. Point to be noted here is that when the project work started in July 2005, yearly traffic was 4 million passengers and cargo 1.6 lakh tonnes. But at this moment of time there are 9 million passengers flying and cargo has shot up to 3 lakh tonnes.
BIAL officials have already said in public that they will expand the airport further after it is open but they are helpless about road connectivity. BIAL is working in collaboration with the government to improve the accessibility to the new airport.
Initial signs are that of the three roadover-bridges proposed, two will be ready by the airport opening date. But the third one, leading to the airport, will take four more months as it is cleared of litigations only now.
On the other hand, the existing tracks of Railways are not available for short-distance trains. But the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has offered to come up with a high-speed rail link to the airport. The National Highways authority is also working overtime to widen the NH 7 into an eight-lane expressway.
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