T3 beats deadline, aviation ministry throws a party

The capital will witness the first-of-its-kind 'thanksgiving' party for a rare event — a Commonwealth Games project getting ready before the event in the face of massive hurdles. The aviation ministry has invited the country's top 22 bureaucrats including the cabinet secretary and secretaries of ministries of home, revenue, defence, external affairs, surface transport and the intelligence bureau chief to IGI Airport's new terminal (T3) as it has been completed with more than a little help from all of them and is now ready for a July 3 inauguration.

Aviation secretary M Nambiar, who has overseen the project and ensured coordination with scores of other government agencies along with DGCA chief Nasim Zaidi's sharp eye on operational aspects, will showcase T3 to the top bureaucrats. According to relieved ministry officials, the GMR-led Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL) implemented the Rs 12,000-crore project in just 37 months while a project of this size and scale usually takes 60-70 months.

"There were several issues that had the potential to derail this project. But the National Facilitation Council led by the cabinet secretary provided the meeting ground for varied stake holders and ensured that differences and ego hassles between the various departments were ironed out. So we thought having a thansksgiving at T3 would be ideal for the NCF's final meeting," said a top official.

Giving a sense of the task completed, he said a minimum of 1,000 trucks were required to ferry material to the site to bring five million tons of metal required to complete the project. Due to traffic restrictions on commercial vehicles, these trucks used to come from 10pm to 6am when international traffic is at its peak.

Handling these trucks without causing hindrance to the passengers and vehicular traffic was a tough task, said an official.

"Due to restrictions imposed by the government, DIAL could not get required number of visas for experts engaged in the glass facade work," said an official. A number of 'green' issues also had to be addressed that included relocating 60 neelgais with the wildlife department's help.

A number of issues, though, are yet to be sorted out. The Delhi government's promise of uninterrupted power and water supply along with sewerage and drainage by providing the required infrastructure is still to be fulfilled. Chief minister Sheila Dikshit recently visited T3 and assured that all these tasks would soon be completed.