The Central and State Governments should plan for the future needs of Coimbatore and hence look at a greenfield airport project here.
This was suggested by K. Kathirmathiyon, secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause. He pointed out that land acquisition for expansion of Coimbatore airport is on for almost 10 years now, without much progress. Though it was initially said that 1,200 acres would be required, the land to be acquired was brought down to nearly 630 acres. However, the cost involved for this is huge and several people (land owners) would have to be disturbed and the expansion would still not meet the future requirements.
Instead, the Governments should look at 3,000 or 4,000 acres barren land, come up with better designs and develop a new airport that would benefit the air travellers of the entire region.
The new facility would have adequate space for passenger and cargo movement and accommodate the future needs too. Barren land identified outside the city would cost relatively less.
“It would be prudent to plan for a new airport now itself instead of spending large amounts for the expansion of the present airport for a temporary period,” he said.
Vanitha Mohan, who heads the Kongu Global Forum, said there was a suggestion earlier to identify land between Coimbatore and Tirupur and develop a new international airport there. However, the Government had said that since there was an airport here it should be expanded. Either the State and Central Governments should sit together and come out with solutions to acquire the required land for the existing airport or look at a new project. “The best solution would be to have a new facility,” she said.
