Plans afoot for 7 new Airports across the state
Mr N Chandrababu Naidu recently held a review meet on the expansion and construction of new airports in the state of Andhra Pradesh wherein he informed that 7 new airports are coming up in the state.
He said that the government has already taken a decision on this and started the work of grounding these projects.
As of now the state has a total of 7 functional airports i.e. in Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Kadapa, Rajah- mundry and Gannavaram which are managed by the Airports Authority of India while Kurnool airport is managed by the state government and Puttaparthi is a private airstrip.
In addition to these, Greenfield Bhogapuram International Airport is being developed. However, in view of the increasing needs, the state government has decided to bring in 7 more new airports.
These new airports will be for Kuppam, Dagadarthi, Srikakulam, Tadepalligudem, Nagarjuna Sagar, Tuni-Annavaram and Ongole.
As per the government a feasibility report has been prepared for the Kuppam airport and the construction of this airport will be done in two phases 683 acres in the first phase and 567 acres in the second phase, totalling 1,250 acres, have already been identified.
However, since IAF, HAL and Bangalore International Airports are located nearby, the officials explained that the air space issue also needs to be considered. For this reason, NOC has to be obtained from the relevant authorities.
In regards to Srikakulam Airport, it was informed that the feasibility survey has been completed and it will be built on 1,383 acres in two phases.
Land acquisition has already begun and will be taken up on 680 acres in Phase 1 and 536 acres in Phase 2.The construction of Dagadarthi Airport is being done on 1379 acres for which land acquisition of 635 acres has been done and another 745 acres need to be acquired.
This airport has all the permissions and a BPCL refinery is coming up in this area. In addition to this, this area is also being developed industrially.
Keeping this in mind, the CM opined that this will be a good airport for cargo and industry. He therefore suggested that the officials should also consider the issue of bringing an airstrip in Sri City SEZ. 657 acres have been identified for Ongole Airport.
A feasibility study is to be done on this. An airport will also be set up on 1670 acres at Nagarjuna Sagar in Palnadu district. Of this, 500 acres have to be acquired but Forest clearance is required for this.
It has been decided to take up Tadepalligudem Airport on 1123 acres however with Rajahmundry and Gannavaram airports being nearby the feasibility of the airport is being examined here. Alternately it has been proposed to construct the airport on 757 acres between Tuni-Annavaram.
The CM said that with new industries coming up in Anakapalle district, there is a need for an airport in that area.
An airport in the Tadipatri area was also suggested which the CM said should be examined. Later, officials gave a presentation on the expansion works of Gannavaram Airport and presented new designs for the terminal.
The CM suggested that these works should be completed in 6 months and made available by June. Along with airports, an aviation university and a training center will be set up in the state.
The Chief Minister also reviewed the construction of new airport at his residence in Undavalli. Union Civil Aviation Minister Mr Rammohan Naidu and top officials of the Airports Authority of India attended the review meet.
