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Lalita Iyer
Lalita Iyer

HYDERABAD

Green ministry nod for Hyderabad airport expansion plan

hyderabad-airport-pti Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad | PTI

The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad has been handling 12 million passengers per annum (MPPA) and now with an expansion of the airport, it will probably handle 18 MPPA per year. This expansion will be at a cost of Rs 2,629 crore following the green nod from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF). 

The approval came from the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Environment Ministry after holding several meetings over the issue.

The RGIA is located within 5,495 acres of land of which about 2,000 acres have been developed towards airport needs which mainly constitutes of 1,700 acres of airside and 300 acres of landside facilities. No land acquisition will be involved as all the expansion activities are planned within the RGIA site area of 5,495 acres.

But with the expansion, there will an equivalent increase in water requirement. Apparently, after expansion, the water need would be 12,617 kilo litres per day, out of which about 7,765 KLD is potable water. This will be met by the Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) and the 4,852 KLD non-potable water will be met by recycling of treated wastewater and other many such measures.

The RGIA handles close to 400 daily air traffic movements and is now on a mission to move from conventional energy to renewable energy sources for environmental sustenance. It recently commissioned a captive 5MW Solar Power Plant for its use as part of a plan to become completely carbon neutral.

Last month, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL), which operates the airport, announced that it had converted the entire taxiway edge lights from halogen lamps to energy efficient LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes). The airside, which is the busiest and the most critical area of the airport, had close to 500 halogen lamps, which covered around 26 km of the area.

In April this year, the airport received the carbon neutrality status by Airports Council International and it was conferred with the carbon neutrality (level 3: neutrality) certificate at a ceremony organised at Doha, Qatar.

The ACI Airport Carbon Accreditation programme was launched in June 2009, and comprises four levels: 'mapping' (level 1), 'reduction' (level 2), 'optimisation' (level 3) and 'neutrality' (level 3+). The Hyderabad airport achieved levels one and two in 2012 and level 3 status in 2013, before bagging the level 3+ neutrality this year. 

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Topics : #Hyderabad

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