The board of AAI has approved revised project cost of Kolkata Airport's modernisation project at Rs 2,325 crore, against Rs 1,942 crore estimated earlier.

However, the revised estimate does not include the cost of setting up a new air traffic control (ATC) tower which was a part of the initial investment plan. Setting up of the ATC tower is likely to cost Rs 300 crore investment over and above the revised estimate.

The AAI has taken a decision to defer the construction of the ATC tower as the existing facility is capable of handling the increased capacity for now.

The cost overrun has been caused by lot of factors like cost of construction, setting up of a baggage sorting system that will automatically sort luggage of different airlines and route them to the respective belly-holds.

The work that has been already completed included piling of cement in the basement area of the proposed terminal building, construction of columns at the passenger arrival area and parts of the upper arrival area, development of the descending and ascending path for a proposed flyover from VIP road, construction of taxiways and aprons and a large portion of the secondary runway extension. The modernisation project is likely to be completed by August 2011.

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