Government Orders Third-Party Audits For Structural Stability Of Airport Infrastructure

The government, on Monday, mandated that all airport operators conduct a third-party audit to check the structural stability of airport buildings and associated infrastructure. They have also been directed to do a comprehensive evaluation of civil, electrical, and technical aspects annually before the monsoon season.

These directives follow the recent roof collapse incidents at three airports.

At Delhi's Terminal 1D on June 28, the forecourt canopy collapsed during heavy rain. Additionally, non-structural tensile fabric canopies in the kerb areas were damaged at Jabalpur and Rajkot airports on June 27 and June 29, respectively.

In 2023-24, an amount of Rs 795.72 crore was spent on repair and maintenance works at 121 airports of the Airports Authority of India, according to official data submitted to the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

In the Upper House, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said that the ministry has constituted a high-level expert committee consisting of structural engineers from IIT Delhi to assess the incident at the Delhi airport and submit its report.

"Further, all the airport operators have been directed to carry out a third-party audit of structural stability of airport buildings and associated infrastructures through a reputed government institution/body such as IITs, NITs, CBRI, EIL, etc.," the minister said in a written reply.

Aviation regulator DGCA carries out regular audits in the form of surveillance inspections or spot inspections to ensure compliance to these standards.

In a separate written reply, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said that the AAI had initiated investigations to determine the root cause of the incidents at Jabalpur and Rajkot airports.

Barring the Covid years, the expenditure on repair and maintenance in absolute terms at the airports has increased, Mohol said in another written reply, while providing details of the activities at the AAI airports.

"Expenditure on repair and maintenance as a percentage of revenue is not an appropriate metric to assess movement of the expenditure over a period of time, since revenue can increase owing to various factors which have no bearing on the R&M expenses," the minister said.

"...alternatively, R&M expenses can also increase due to various factors (i.e. life of the assets, normal wear and tear, annual maintenance contract/ comprehensive maintenance contract costs charged by vendors, etc) which may not affect revenue," Mohol said.

(With Inputs From PTI)