Stage II B'lore airport expansion gets green nod

The Ministry of Environment and Forests has recommended environment clearance (EC) for the second stage expansion of international airport in Bangalore, being developed by a GVK group company.

Bangalore International Airport Ltd had approached the Union ministry seeking clearance for expansion so as to cater to 55-million passengers per annum by 2029-2030 along with the required facilities and non-aeronautical developments including ancillary projects.

"The Environmental Appraisal Committee (EAC) noted the PP (project proponent) has submitted the compliance of EC conditions to the Regional Office, MoEF at Bengaluru," as per the minutes of its meeting held last month.

"The report from MoEF, Bengaluru, reveals all the conditions have been complied with. After deliberations, EAC recommended grant of clearance stipulating the following conditions..." according to the minutes. As part of conditions laid down by the EAC, the BIAL will have to re-cycle the waste water for green belt, cooling system, flushing and develop the green belt as committed.

In July 2011, the ministry had approved the first stage expansion enhancing the passenger handling capacity from 11.4 million passengers per annum (mppa) to 17.2-mppa.

The Stage-1 expansion was completed in December 2013. The second stage has been envisaged to accommodate traffic growth which is forecast to reach of 55-mppa by 2030.

With the proposed expansion on aeronautical and non- aeronautical zones, total direct and indirect employment generation potential is about 224,000. The overall project cost is around Rs 14,867-crore, the EAC said.

The GVK Group holds a 43 per cent stake, Siemens Project Ventures GmbH 26 per cent and Flughafen Zurich AG Ltd 5 per cent while, state-owned entities Airports Authority of India and Karnataka State Industrial Investment & Development Corporation Ltd hold 13 per cent each in the project.

The airport, with a capacity of handling 20-million passengers, handled 10.23-million domestic and 2.63-million international passengers during 2013-14, the GVK had recently said.