Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate the new integrated terminal building of the Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) Airport during his visit to the state of Tripura on Tuesday. The airport terminal, according to an official release, has been built at a cost of about ₹450 crore and is expected to be capable of handling around four to five times more passengers than the existing one – which reportedly can manage only 500 passengers at a time.
Spread over 30,000 square meters, the new state-of-art terminal building is equipped with modern facilities and supported by the latest information technology (IT) network-integrated system. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be inaugurating the new building at around 2pm in Agartala, the state capital of Tripura.
The press release by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) goes on to say, “The development of the new terminal building is an effort in line with the Prime Minister’s endeavour to provide modern facilities in all airports across the country.”
The new airport terminal building in Tripura comes as part of the Airport Authority of India (AAI)’s initiative to develop modern, state-of-the-art airports all across the North-East to contribute to the all-around development of the region.
The new Tripura airport terminal includes as many as 20 check-in counters, 10 immigration counters, aprons for six aircraft parking bays, five custom counters, four passenger boarding bridges, and even one hangar. In line with the Cochin International Airport, the airport terminal building in Tripura shall also include a solar power unit capable of handling most of its power requirements.
The architecture of the airport terminal building has also been designed keeping in mind the unique history of the state and its distinctive cultural landscape. It will sport local art forms and stone sculptures of the Unakoti hills and Chabimura replica, among others. Local bamboo art has also been presented in multiple forms at the airport.
During his visit to Tripura, Prime Minister Modi will also launch two other key initiatives – the Mukhyamantri Tripura Gram Samriddhi Yojana and the Project Mission 100 of Vidyajyoti Schools.
Project Mission 100 of Vidyajyoti Schools is aimed to improve the quality of education in the state by converting 100 existing high/higher secondary schools with state-of-the-art facilities and quality education.
The project will cover about 1.2 lakh students from nursery to class XII and will cost around ₹500 crores in the next three years.