Speaking to reporters after a "concrete pour" ceremony at the airport site. Kiran Kumar Grandhi, managing director of HIAL, said the passenger terminal building (PTB), which has been contracted to China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong) Ltd for a lumpsum turnkey contract of Rs 615 crores, is expected to be completed in the next one year. The construction of the runway and taxiways, which have been contracted to Larsen & Toubro' ECC division for Rs 495 crores, is expected to be completed by mid-2006.

China State Construction, a subsidiary of China Overseas Holdings Ltd, will be building a PTB of one lakh square metres, while the runway is being designed to handle large commercial aircraft like the Airbus A380, Mr Grandhi said. The PTB is being designed to handle 70 lakh passengers per annum. The Begumpet airport, which is managed by the Airports Authority of India, would be used to handle IAF and VIP flights after the airport at Shamshabad is opened for business. "The Begumpet airport will no longer handle commercial flights," he said.

Andhra Pradesh chief secretary T.K. Dewan said the project had the full support of the state government. According to Bruce Benjamin, head of project management for HIAL, the airport was telescoping its Phase 1A and lB to handle seven million passengers because HIAL estimates that the traffic would increase substantially in the next few years. The airport, which is to have a modular design, would eventually be expanded to handle four crore passengers per annum, in its Phase 3 and 4.

Jacson C.S. Cheong, executive director and vice president of China State Construction, who will be overseeing the FEB construction, said the company had brought in 22 expatriate engineers for the project. HIAL is a company floated by the Bangalore-based GMR group, which has 63 per cent stake in the firm. The other shareholders in the airport project are Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad of Malaysia, which has a 11 per cent stake, while the AAI and the Andhra Pradesh Government have a 13 per cent stake each. The project is estimated to cost Rs 1,760 crore. HIAL completed the financial closure for the project in August.