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5 firms shortlisted for Amritsar airport upgrade The central government has shortlisted five companies for the modernisation of the Rajasansi International Airport in Amritsar. The companies include Anil Ambani-led Reliance Energy, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Fraport AG, Tata Infrastructure and Lanco Infrastructure. The modernisation of the Amritsar airport is part of the upgrade programme for 35 non-metro airports in the country by 2010. Earlier, 23 consortiums had submitted expressions of interests (EoIs) for the modernisation of the Rajasansi International Airport. GMR Infrastructure Ltd, DS Construction Ltd, Unitech Ltd, Ansals Properties and Infrastructure Ltd and Singapore's Changi Airports had also submitted EoIs. Sources in the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said a meeting would be soon held for finalising the last date for submission of the financial bids for the project. The government had invited EoIs as part of the first phase of the modernisation plan of the non-metro airports. Besides Amritsar, Udaipur airport is also being upgraded in the first phase. AAI sources said the work includes maintenance of terminal building, development and operation of cargo facilities and city-side development of the airport. About 30 acres is estimated to be developed on city-side for commercial exploitation, car parking and other amenities. The total number of flight at Amritsar's Rajasansi International Airport, the only international airport in Punjab, is about 65 per week. In the recent times the airport has emerged as an important origin and destination for natives of the state settled outside the country. During the past few years, there has been a tremendous growth in terms of passengers and flights from the airport. The AAI would be spending Rs 77 crore to Rs 100 crore for the expansion of the airport. The state government has agreed to give 44 acres to the airport for expansion purpose. According to the expansion plans, the terminal of the airport would be extended from 14,000 sq metre to 40,000 sq metre, increasing its handling capacity to nearly 1,000 passengers at a time. At present, the terminal can barely handle passengers. Also, there are plans to build 4 aero-bridges for passengers. The plan also includes extension of runway from 3, 259 metre to 3,658 metre. Four parking bases for aircraft are also included in this plan, which would take the number of these bases on the airport to nine.