NEW DELHI: New Delhi has got a new landmark with the completion of the US$2.5bil Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) Terminal 3, touted to be one of the 10 largest in the world. Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) was party in its construction and will operate it for the next 30 years.
MAHB has a 10% equity stake in the consortium that built, operates and manages the airport. The IGI is the second airport in India that MAHB is involved in. The first is the Hyderabad International Airport in which it has an 11% stake.
Visitors take a tour of the newly-inaugurated Indira Gandhi International Airport Terminal 3 in New Delhi, India, Saturday. Top government officials unveiled the multibillion dollar, glittering steel and glass new airport terminal in the Indian capital Saturday months ahead of playing hosting to the Commonwealth Games. The ultramodern new terminal was built in just 37 months at a cost of nearly US$3 billion and will be ready for passengers on July 16. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)
“This goes to show the expertise and excellence of MAHB in building and managing airports around the world,” said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha.
Kong was in New Delhi for the inauguration of the IGI by India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
MAHB is a member of the consortium that constructed the mammoth airport in a record time of 37 months. Similar structures normally take 60 months to complete.
Other members of the consortium are India’s infrastructure group GMR, Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Germany’s Fraport. GMR has a 54% stake in the consortium, AAI 26% and Fraport 10%.
The ultra modern airport has the capacity to handle 34 million passengers and enough room to expand to cater to 100 million passengers.
Built on a public-private partnership, the airport will open for commercial operations on July 14. “This airport terminal establishes new global benchmarks. It exemplifies our country’s resolve to bridge the infrastructure deficit and it also proves the success of public-private partnership. We have proved the sceptics wrong,” Singh said at the inauguration ceremony.
The IGI boasts 92 moving walkways and 78 aerobridges connecting the boarding area directly to the aircraft and is designed to support Airbus A380 planes.
The airport has three runways, 95 immigration counters and a baggage handling system that can handle 12,800 bags an hour.
MAHB has been instrumental in integrating the entire airport and the integration will be expanded to the domestic terminals located nearby Terminal 3.
It is also supporting the information technology infrastructure for the airport.
At a press conference with the Malaysian media, MAHB managing director Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad said: “We will continue to explore more opportunities (in India and other markets).” He declined to elaborate and did not disclose the investment in IGI.
MAHB is now managing the Sahiba Gocken International airport in Istanbul (20% stake) together with GMR and recently won the bid to build, operate, modernise and expand the Male International Airport in the Maldives.
The Saudi-Malaysian consortium, whose members include MAHB, has also been pre-qualified to bid for the first expansion phase of the Prince Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz airport in Medina.
Besides the opening ceremony of T3, Kong said that Malaysia and India had initiated talks to further liberalise the airspace to capitalise on the burgeoning aviation sector in both countries.
“Now we are quite comfortable with the rights but we have to go forward and further liberalise air traffic to accommodate for future growth. There are opportunities in other Indian cities where our airlines can operate.
“At the same time, we are here to also invite more Indian airlines to fly to Malaysia as they have not fully utilised their landing rights and in bringing the number of passengers to Malaysia,” Kong said.
Currently, Malaysia Airlines flies to Bangalore, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai, while AirAsia and AirAsia X fly to several cities including Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi, Trichy and Trivandrum and will start flights to New Delhi next month.
Kong also talked to his counterparts from the transport and railway ministries as he felt more Malaysian companies should be part of the infrastructure and highway construction that was going on in India.
By B.K. SIDHU
bksidhu@thestar.com.my
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