A new ultra-modern $3 billion airport terminal in the Indian capital New Delhi, has its footing on firm ground, literally, courtesy of the Kingdom-based mining major Bramco Group.
Bramco, a mining and stone company, laid the granite flooring for the sprawling 5.4 million square feet terminal, carving out the mountains of Saudi Arabia and processing a staggering 500 square metres of stone everyday at its factory in Bahrain.
Touted to be the world's secondlargest airport terminal in size and sixth in terms of capacity, the ninelevel hub which opened yesterday can handle 34 million passengers per annum.
Complete with the granite floors imported from Bahrain, huge white columns fitted with expensive speakers, 63 elevators, 95 immigration counters and a state of the art security and baggage system, Terminal 3 is also home to India's first transit hotel.
The sprawling five million square foot building was officially opened yesterday by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi.
The Bahrain mining and stone company won the bid to handle all the stonework design and installation for the flooring, the lifts and lobby areas in the face of fierce competition.
Commissioned by the airport managing company, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) and main contractors GMR group, Bramco Group President, Kanika Dewan led an 800-strong international group of engineers and workers from Bahrain, India, Germany, Romania, Italy and the Middle East.
She was also the only woman and the youngest member of the all male team that built the show piece terminal.
"The prestigious contract to supply and install marble for the landmark New Delhi International Airport is a huge breakthrough for the group. It is a vote of confidence in the international arena for the Bahrain-based group," said Dewan.
"The challenge was not merely the task of laying 130,000 square metres of stone in a project fraught with delays in just 14 months, but the real test was whether we would be able to maintain the highest aesthetic standards and blemish-free material consistency over the massive area."
"We had to bore massive holes in the mountains of Saudi Arabia to mine 12,000 cubic metres of the best quality granite to ensure the same texture and colour variation throughout. We were processing 500 square metres of stone daily to ensure resistance to moisture, salt or air pollution."
"The stone was impregnated with customised pressure guns, developed by Germany's Akemi Lab, while we used a pioneering technology to fix the stone, for the first time in India - a proprietary screed was developed by a renowned Italian company for the purpose," she explained. "To ensure timely completion of the project in the face of delays, the granite flooring was done even as the superstructure was coming up."
"I've worked 20 hours a day non-stop to meet this challenge. As the project comes alive, I am proud that all the passion, zeal and effort was worth the weight in stone," said an elated Dewan.
Discussing the challenges posedby working in India, the graduate from America's Ivy League Wharton School of Business said her professional exposure in the Middle East stood her in good stead.
"The Bramco Group has offices all over the world but since we are headquartered in Bahrain, I think I have absorbed a lot of my work culture from the Kingdom, home to the best of both the west and the east, with the western emphasis on up-to date facilities and tools for work and the Middle Eastern flexibility that lets you connect emotionally with your workplace, colleagues at work and your work itself."
Dewan said India works at an aggressive international pace similar to the United States. "It is much easier to work in modern India if you have international exposure."
Established in 1977, Bramco is one of the largest mining, earth moving and marble supply companies and has a presence all around the world.
By K.V.S Madhav
© Bahrain Tribune 2010
