A swanky Terminal 2 / T2 at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA)
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India's overcrowded financial capital(Mumbai) unveiled its long-awaited Rs 5,500 crore new airport terminal on Friday, an ambitious, art-filled space that developers hope will be a showcase success in a country struggling to modernize inadequate infrastructure that is holding back economic growth.
The state-of-the-art Terminal 2 or T2 at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) was officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday. Built at cost of over Rs5,500 crore, the terminal will be thrown open to public within four weeks.
“Mumbai deserves a world-class facility like the T2,” Singh said, adding that “opening of T2 will inspire other infrastructure projects to achieve similar feat.”
According to aviation experts, development of the airport seems significant for the city as unlike other important airports, CSIA is located in a confined area with no space to expand. Only 1,400 acres are available. On the contrary, Hyderabad and Bengaluru airports have over 5,500 acres of land available and the development had to be carried out without disrupting the on-going flight operations.
In January 2006, GVK led consortium, comprising of Airports Company South Africa and Bidvest won the bid to manage and operate GVK CSIA. To accomplish this task, Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd. (GVK CSIA) was formed by GVK led consortium (74%) and Airports Authority of India (26%)..
In 2012-13, the airport handled 30.21 million passengers and 0.6 million tonnes of cargo. According to forecast by aviation experts, the passenger traffic in Mumbai is expected to reach 80 million per annum by 2026. Likewise, the air cargo is expected to reach 2 million tonnes. With the opening of T2, the passenger capacity of CSIA will shoot up more than 40 million passengers annually. Under the privatisation policy of the central government, CSIA was given to private parties for modernisation in 2006. GVK-led consortium bagged the contract for Mumbai airport.
The spanking four-storey glass marvel, whose design has been inspired by a dancing peacock, has some of the most advanced state-of-the-art passenger convenience system. It has 208 check-in-counters, 43 security pedestals, 161 elevators, one day hotel and one transit hotel, automated baggage system capable of handling 9,600 bags per hour, and a dedicated 6-lane elevated expressway.
The terminal also has country’s largest multi-level car parking area as well as world’s longest cable stayed glass wall (15 metres).
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