India inaugurated a multibillion-dollar airport terminal in New Delhi yesterday — a shiny glass and steel symbol of the country’s aspirations as an emerging global power.
The state-of-the-art hub, which cost nearly US$3 billion and can handle 34 million passengers a year, was showcased at a special ceremony by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ahead of its opening to the public later this month.
Built in just 37 months to coincide with New Delhi’s hosting of the Commonwealth Games in October, the terminal sprawls over 4km² and boasts 97 automated walkways and 78 airbridges.
“This is a demonstration of what India is truly capable of,” Indian Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said at the inauguration ceremony at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, which was also attended by Indian National Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi.
The facility, on which nearly 40,000 workmen toiled at the height of construction, is India’s third world-class airport after Hyderabad and Bangalore, but dwarfs both.
“It’s an advertisement of India’s ability to create world-class infrastructure,” said economist D.H. Pai Panandiker, who heads the independent RPG Goenka Foundation in New Delhi, a private economic think tank.
As Asia’s third-largest economy after China and Japan, India urgently needs to upgrade its dilapidated transport infrastructure, including ports and roads, which is seen as a major hurdle to accelerating economic expansion.
“Overcoming our infrastructure handicaps will remove some of the major handicaps to faster growth,” Panandiker said.
India’s airline passenger traffic rates are among the world’s highest and are expected to double over the next five years.
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