Foundation stone laid for Aviation Regulatory Authorities' integrated office building

Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Ashok Gajapati Raju and Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for an integrated office complex to better the coordination between the aviation regulatory authorities.

Ashok Gajapati Raju praised the efforts of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for the project.

"The idea is if you are able to give a functionally efficient environment to work on, it will help us in sustaining growth that we have. So, AAI is building this facility and the offices will all be moved here and it will be more of an open office concept, where everything is taken care of," said Ashok Gajapati Raju.

The integrated office building at Safdurjung Airport will have offices of Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India, and Airports Authority of India.

The three storied building will be a masterpiece of glass and stone, having contemporary glass look facades.

It will also have designs, which will be eco-friendly and will have roof mounted solar panels and shall also invest in rain water harvesting.

AAI chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra said the building will be constructed to provide a state-of-the-art congenial environment. It will also keep in mind the convenience of the staff.

"There are four major regulatory agencies in the aviation section, DGCA, BCAS, Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and AAI. They were sitting in old office buildings at different distances from each other. Lots of people, who used to come to the Civil Aviation ministry used to find it very difficult to locate the ministries and regulatory bodies and go there. Hence, felt we should do a modern integrated office for all the regulatory agencies, so that people find it convenient to access them," said Guruprasad Mohapatra.

To be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 304 crores, the integrated office is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2020.