The Indian Navy on Tuesday denied reports that the delivery of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov will be delayed till 2010 and said the refurbishing of the ship was moving as per schedule.
"The work is going on as per schedule and I do not know where this particular report came from. The work is only three to four months behind schedule and we can expect the aircraft carrier to be delivered by late 2008 or early 2009," Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sureesh Mehta told media persons in Mumbai.
He was commenting on reports in a section of media recently, which said that the delivery of Admiral Gorshkov or the rechristened Vikramaditya aircraft carrier will be delayed to 2010.
The aircraft carrier is currently being refurbished at a cost of $1 billion, which includes 16 MiG 29K aircraft, is being built at the Sevmash shipyard in Serverodvinsk city of Russia.
Mehta said that the Russians have committed for a timely delivery of the ambitious aircraft carrier to the defence minister.
"Our officials, who are stationed at the spot, have said that the work is going on as per schedule and we can have a month long delay once the work is completed as that part of Russia is frozen for a long time," he said.
