INDIA TO SHOWCASE ITS ULTRA-MODERN DELHI AIRPORT

NEW DELHI, July 1 (Bernama) -- India's spanking new terminal at the Indira
Gandhi International Airport (IGI), to be unveiled this Saturday, would
transform South Asia's oldest gateway into the world's fifth largest airport.

The inauguration of the new terminal, built at a cost of nearly US$2.6
billion (RM9.10 billion), would also catapult IGI to be world's third largest
passenger terminal -- just behind Dubai and Beijing international airports.

Boasting a capacity to handle nearly 35 million passengers annually,
the ultra modern international terminal, called T3, prides with 78 aerobridges
and a runway of 1.2 km length.

The mega project was undertaken by Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), a
consortium led by Bangalore-based infrastructure giant GMR Group, Airports
Authority of India, German-based Fraport and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd
(MAHB).

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to inaugurate the opening
of T3 on Saturday morning, along with Congress stalwart Sonia Gandhi.

Malaysia's Transport Minister Kong Cho Ha would lead a delegation
for the ceremony.

The Indian government is pumping in billions of dollars to fix its creaking
infrastructures in the capital, ahead of the Commonwealth Games later this
October, which includes the new T3, expansion of highways and construction of
metro rails criss-crossing Delhi.

India, with its US$1.2 trillion (RM4.2 trillion) economy -- Asia's third
largest, after China and Japan -- is also in the process of upgrading its much
needed infrastructure to support its growing economy, propelling at about eight
per cent, unharmed by the recent global recession.

--BERNAMA