Airport terminal bldg expansion project gets environmental clearance

The Surat airport’s terminal building expansion project on Wednesday received environment clearance (EC) from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).

Official sources said that with the EC issued, the critical infrastructure work for the project will gather momentum and it is expected to be completed before March 2022.

The terminal building of Surat airport is being extended by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) at the cost of Rs 354 crore.

The existing terminal building has an area of 8,474 sq m that will be extended by additional 17,046 sq m (excluding city side and air side kerb) to have a total area of 25,520 sq m.

Along with the terminal building expansion, the work of the parallel taxi track has also been started to allow the smooth landing and take-off of the aircraft.

Following the delay in the EC from the last one-and-a-half-year, the construction work of the terminal building could not be completed on time. Earlier, the completion date for the project was set in April 2021.

In its last meeting held in New Delhi on February 25, 2020, EAC had recommended additional terms of reference (ToR) to the AAI for the EC approval for the project.

The EAC observed that the airport authorities had not complied to conditions including the provision of sewage treatment plant (STP) for the rainwater harvesting, setting up of the laboratory for environment management cell etc.

The airport authorities had requested that the expansion project did not require wildlife clearance as there is no wildlife sanctuary within 10 km radius and that the unnotified Hazira bird sanctuary too was located at 11.2 km away.