VIJAYAPURA: Large and Medium Industries Minister M B Patil has said that the work related to the Vijayapura airport is going forward speedily and it will be ready for inauguration by next April.
Addressing a press conference after examining the progress of the ongoing work during a visit to the airport, he informed that the civil works of the airport, which is being built on 727 acres, will be completed by this December. After completion of civil works, the process of getting the required clearances will take place, he explained.
“Earlier, the airport was planned for flight operations only during day time. But, soon after assuming office as the minister, I took the initiative and instructed the officials concerned to include night landing facility. Besides, the plan has been modified to facilitate the landing of jumbo-size Airbus aircraft”, he said.
“To ensure the progress of work without being halted, Rs 50 crore has been released and the airport will house all facilities including canteen, toilet similar to that of large airports. To facilitate the landing of jumbo-sized airbuses, further acquisition of land to some extent is required and the officials have been directed to carry out the process,” Patil added.
About the deployment of fire extinguisher vehicles, he said that two such vehicles need to be deployed at the airport as per the DGCA norms. “The equipment needed to enable night landing facility will be procured soon. As the installation of these, including the weather forecast equipment, will need around Rs 50 crore, the project will finally cost nearly Rs 400 crore”, he further said.
Informing that Rs 300 crore has been released so far for the project, he said that the Public Works Department (PWD) has already applied for environmental clearance. “A multidisciplinary team of the Union government has also been sought to examine the work and the team is likely to visit sometime during August”, the minister said.
According to him, the works under package-1 at Rs 222.92 crores comprised road, peripheral road, apron, taxiway and approach road. The package-2 at Rs 86.20 crore included the construction of a passenger terminal, ATC building, electricity substation, compound, watch tower and underground tank. Package-3 at Rs 19.30 crore will be for electromechanical devices. In addition to this, Rs 19.41 crore has been incurred on power supply, survey among other things.
Patil also revealed that the Union government has not provided funds for any new airports at Kalaburagi, Shivamogga, Hassan and Vijayapura. “For all these projects, the state government has allocated funds and hence, it is felt that it will be meaningless to hand over these airports to the Airports Authority of India (AAI). The state government is mulling on operating and maintaining new airports on its own”, he added.
He hoped that the new airport here will facilitate the export of commercial agro products including grapes and also foster tourism in the region. Nagathana MLA Vitthala Katakadonda, KSIIDC MD Dr M R Ravi, Deputy Commissioner T Bhubalan, ZP CEO Rahul Shinde, SP H D Ananda Kumar and several other officers were also present on the occasion. (ANI)