The New ATC Tower at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) was jointly inaugurated by Prithviraj Chavan, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and Ajit Singh, Union Minister for Civil Aviation, in the presence of Mohammed Arif (Naseem) Khan, Minister of Textile, Minority Development and Guardian Minister (Mumbai Suburban), Govt of Maharashtra; Suresh Shetty, Minister of Public Health and Family Welfare and Protocol, Govt. of Maharashtra; JK Banthia, Chief Secretary, Govt of Maharashtra and GVK Reddy, Executive Chairman, Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL); V P Agarwal, Chairman, Airport Authority of India and G V Sanjay Reddy, Managing Director, MIAL among others.
Speaking on the occasion, Chavan said that the New ATC Tower is a beautiful architecture; it being the tallest ATC tower in India makes this occasion more special for us. “The civil aviation business is about efficiency and it is about bringing the best of technology & trained manpower together. The Minister of Civil Aviation has given a true fillip to the aviation sector. It is the state’s endeavor to have the best civil aviation infrastructure than anywhere else in the country. We want to have all – weather airports in all districts; we look forward to building a robust civil aviation infrastructure. I compliment GVK and everyone associated with it. The New ATC Tower is the best equipped tower in India – and it is the shape of things to come in the near future,” he added.
GVK Reddy, Executive Chairman, MIAL, said, “At GVK, we are contributing our bit to India’s development by setting up some of the most prestigious infrastructure projects across India. The magnificent New ATC Tower at CSIA is a testimony to GVK’s aspiration of transforming India and Mumbai by creating beautiful iconic structures to adorn the country and city’s skyscape. It is GVK’s homage to the spirit of Mumbai, epitomizing GVK’s ethos of creativity, innovation and excellence. And it is a precursor to the New Integrated Terminal coming up soon.”
India’s tallest ATC Tower with a height of 83.8 metre is built within an area of 2,800 square metre at CSIA. The location and the height of the New ATC Tower will enable the tower controllers to have unobstructed view of the entire operational area, which will help in optimizing air traffic separation and increase the traffic handling capacity at CSIA.
The new ATC Tower will be equipped with the latest technology including electronic flight strips which will soften the work load of the Tower Controller, enhance safety and overall capacity of the airport.
Equipped to handle current and future air traffic movements at the GVK CSIA airport, the state-of-the-art new ATC Tower coupled with the airside upgradation (addition of new taxiways and rapid-exit taxiways) will help reduce the Runway Occupancy Time (ROT) and will further enhance efficiency levels and increase Air Traffic Movements per hour.
G V Sanjay Reddy, Managing Director, GVK MIAL, added, “The new, magnificent New ATC Tower gives us a sense of achievement and satisfaction that the project has surmounted immense challenges. It was the team work, especially with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and strong support from some of world best designers, architects and construction professionals that helped us achieve this marvel. The New ATC Tower has already won accolades for its design, architecture and construction quality. More than that, it will help CSIA take a leap in navigation capabilities and help enhance airport performance, efficiency, capacity and safety. The New ATC Tower is a tribute to what can be achieved even in most trying circumstances.”
