November 6: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is all set to develop Mumbai and Delhi airports as international hubs, announced the chairman of the AAI, Ranjan Chatterjee yesterday. He said the two runways at Mumbai will have to be used optimally and more parking bays developed to accommodate increased traffic. He added that the new international terminal at Sahar will be complete by mid-1999 and will provide additional passenger handling capacity.

He attributed the one year delay in the terminal's commissioning to the installation of a sprinkler system following a fire at the terminal building, New Delhi. The space availability at the terminal, which took eight months to complete at a cost of Rs 21 crore, has been increased from 9,000 to 14,000 sq metres, Chatterjee said.

Said AAI officials, a state-of -the-art storage and processing facility will be built at Mumbai with private sector participation in collaboration with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).

Also on the anvil is a proposal for a second domestic module at Mumbai airport. It will have a 52,000 square metre area and cost around Rs 154 crore.

Chatterjee also informed that the air traffic services modernisation projects in Mumbai and Delhi costing Rs 423.89 crore will be completed as quickly as possible. He added that site acceptance tests were ``more or less complete and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has certified the system'' at Delhi airport, which will be commissioned next month. Mumbai airport's programme will be ready by the end of January, Chatterjee said.

Regarding the excess height of the new control tower at Mumbai airport which has resulted in the closure of the alternate runway (14-32) six months ago, Chatterjee said a decision will be taken within a fortnight to reopen the runway.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.