China’s capital Beijing already has two airports, Beijing Capital International Airport, and Beijing Nanyuan Airport. Together they are estimated to handle annually 95 million passengers. The air travel facilities received a significant impact as part of the expansion of infrastructure of the capital for holding the Olympics in 2008. The frenetic pace of development of the Chinese economy and the demand for its capital city had necessitated the construction of a third large airport. In line with its mega thinking, China commenced the development of a third large airport in Beijing. BBC and South China Morning Post recently provided a glimpse of the giganticism of this airport.
The Beijing Daxing International Airport is taking shape as the largest single airport terminal built so far anywhere in the world. This is designed and constructed eventually over a million sq.m. to handle 100 million passengers and four million tonnes of cargo a year. Daxing will have eight runways and have the capacity to repair a dozen aircraft at any point in time, mentions the Chinese daily.
With its record of building Smart Cities like Shenzhen taking liberal recourse to technology, the Daxing airport, slated to open later this year, also incorporates several hi-tech features including energy efficiency. The BBC report mentions of 100 per cent rainwater collection, a solar farm, and green energy vehicles.
Just look at the planning, design, and speed of construction of this massive project in just over three years! Also, imagine the global capital city that will have the capacity to handle close to 200 million passengers annually!
Daxing will become an integrated transportation hub that would see the high-speed rail, inter-city services, and downtown-to-airport express trains all operating right beneath the terminal.
Tribute – R Srivatsan
R Srivatsan, a well-known expert on loss assessment and survey of insurance claims, is no more. R Thyagarajan of Shriram Group recalls his long association with Srivatsan right from the days of his working for J B Boda & Co, the well-known insurance brokers, almost four decades ago: “the brilliant, young man completed his Chartered Accountancy, Company Secretaryship, and Cost & Works Accountancy at a very young age. He practiced as a CA for a while and acquired expertise in value adding loss assessment. His company, Professional Insurance Surveyors & Loss Assessors Pvt Ltd, emerged among the leaders in this field. Srivatsan’s services were sought not just across India but even in several countries in Africa and elsewhere. Multinationals availed his expertise for loss assessment due to calamities and accidents in good measure.”
Soft-spoken Srivatsan has also been known for his strict ethical values and carried credibility with the insurance companies. How to assess the loss of this expert?
Tribute – S D Kulkarni
Sudhakar Dinakar Kulkarni (S D Kulkarni), CEO & MD of the construction giant L&T during 1994-99, breathed his last in early April.
A chartered accountant, Kulkarni began his career at Voltas in 1960 as a junior executive and joined L&T in 1975 as General Manager (Finance). He managed a confederation of six major businesses of L&T, each with its own course of revenues and profits. He introduced TQM that made the organization customer-oriented.
Kulkarni helped in the transition from L&T’s preoccupation with myriad manufacturing and service activities to focus on a few core activities.
