MP Ladakh, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal convened a review meeting with the members of Airport Authority of India and Executive Agencies on November 5 regarding the under construction Kushok Bakula Rinpoche (KBR), Airport Leh.

DGM Airport Authority of India (AAI) Sanjay Thakur; Director Airport Authority Leh, Sonam Norbu; Project Director EIL, T.R Sharma; Project Manager, Shapoorji Pallonji and Co, Pvt Ltd, Yogesh Shukla attended the meeting.

DGM AAI Sanjay Thakur informed that the project has a total cost of ₹ 480.00 crores out of which 323.19 crores for composite works. The newly constructed Airport has the features of 18,985 Sqm of the terminal building, 3,340 Sqm of Utility building, 1.6 million passenger capacity/800 peak hours passengers, 3 numbers of passenger boarding bridges, and also included 13 passenger lifts and 2 goods lifts.  

He further explains the other facilities of the Airport like surface car parking, central cooling, and heating system, and solar grid power system.

Sanjay Thakur informed that  26% of physical work has been completed and nearly ₹ 65 Crore has been spent to date out of the total project cost. He also added that due to the Covid-19 pandemic and short working seasons the duration of completion will extend till December 2022 earlier completion date was framed as September 2021.

Regarding the electricity connection for the new terminal building, the Airport Authority of India has already sanctioned deposit work of  ₹4.81 Cr and the MoU has been signed with Chief engineer PDD, UT administration but it is pending due to the clause of Operation & maintenance of Substation equipment at PDD substation. DGM requested MP Ladakh for his intervention in this matter.  

A detailed discussion also took place regarding interior design, night flight operation, and expansion of the area.

Jamyang Tsering Namgyal stated that the project completion period was September 2021 but due to the Covid-19 pandemic the duration of completion will extend till December 2022. He appreciated Shapoorji Pallonji and Co, Pvt Ltd, and its team for the quality and authenticity of the project. 

He directed the representative of GoI, Airport Authority, and Shapoorji Pallonji teams for effort without compromise in quality and authenticity in the future and also directed for the completion of the project in a given time frame. He further added that the newly 6 bays project has the capacity of handling 20-25 Airlines per day.

MP Ladakh also visited and inspected the under-construction Utility building and other sites of the under-construction Airport with the teams. He also took stock of the facilities being provided to the passengers in the existing airport and requested the concerned authorities to improve and upgrade the required facilities like running water, public utilities, and heating systems.