Visakhapatnam airport director Srinivasa Rao said the proposals to construct a new airport terminal building of the size of the old one at a cost of Rs 240 crore at the city airport, were sent to the AAI

Visakhapatnam: Proposals to construct a new airport terminal building of the size of the old one at a cost of Rs 240 crore at the city airport, were sent to the Airports Authority of India, according to Visakhapatnam airport director Srinivasa Rao.

The proposal has to be approved in the next five-year plan and four additional parking bays were also planned, he told a review meeting of the Airport Advisory Committee, chaired by Visakhapatnam MP MVV Satyanarayana, here on Friday.

The meeting expressed concern over the restrictions in allocation of slots between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. with only one flight permitted to land and take off between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., and between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., which could hardly help the economy.

Also, air cargo operations were completely stopped for outgoing cargo sine the past three months due to lack of personnel and pending approvals, a member O. Naresh Kumar pointed out at the meeting. “No air cargo is now moved out of Vizag while earlier 150 tonnes including emergency cargo like blood samples were moved. Only limited shrimp was allowed at the request of the Chief Minister for three months,” he said and appealed to the MP to take up the issue with the Ministry.

The members also pointed out that although Visakhapatnam was in ninth place in GDP contribution, the airport was ranked only 19th and requested the Air Port director to take up measures to improve the conditions to make it enter the top ten.

Satyanarayana said he was disappointed at the flooring and roofing quality and said there was need for hiring consultant to beautify the new building.