Two contractors have exited the Chennai airport’s T3 International Terminal construction project, which has been under way for two years now.

These contractors were responsible for carrying out interior work in this terminal.

So far, only about 40 per cent of the construction work has been completed and the project looks at a delayed and revised deadline of December 2026.

One of the most important components of the phase II modernisation project includes the construction of the integrated terminal building, which will serve the international flight operations. It spans 2,20,972 sq. m. and commenced almost seven years ago in two phases with an estimated cost of ₹2,467 crore.

Delay due to pandemic

After being riddled by delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other reasons, the first phase of the integrated building, the T2 International Terminal, was inaugurated in 2023 and subsequently flight operations were initiated in this building.

The following year, work on the second phase of the integrated building, the T3 International Terminal, took off, but is yet to be completed.

While the original date of completion for the phase II project was 2022 (as mentioned in the Rajya Sabha), it has suffered constant setbacks and after repeated delays, the latest revised deadline is December 2026.

Officials of Airports Authority of India (AAI) said the civil work is on track, and they are reviewing the project every week. Officials said they will ensure that there are no further delays. The most challenging part of the construction has been completed and after this, they don’t expect any issues.

‘Deadline will be met’

“The work has gained speed and will meet the December deadline. Two firms that bagged the contracts for doing the interior works in the terminal left the project sometime back. But we have already floated fresh bids for this work. The contract will be awarded soon, and it will not affect the project in any way,” an official said.

As the project continued to reel under multiple delays, the two contractors found it financially unviable to continue in the project, sources said. When they bagged the project some years ago, the prices were different. Now, with rising costs and delays, they were unable to cope and hence decided to leave the project, sources added.

The exit of these two contractors too could add a bit of delay to the T3 Terminal construction. If these contractors were in place, alongside the civil work, some of the interior work could have begun now, sources said.