Operations from the international cargo terminal at the Visakhapatnam airport are likely to commence in a couple of months if everything goes well.
The proposal has been hanging fire for over four years now.
The AP Trade Promotion Corporation (APTPC), which had bagged the contract two-and-a-half years ago, could not carry out the works as its contract was cancelled by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) at that time on ‘technical grounds’.The AAI was averse to awarding the contract to the APTPC as it owed some dues for works done at the Begumpet airport in Hyderabad.
The reasons had been reported under the headline, ‘Air cargo complex caught between two agencies’, by The Hindu (February 5, 2013).
The AAI is the owner of the land and buildings on which the airport is located and the APTPC is the custodian of the international cargo operations.
“The tender of the APTPC was approved about a week ago. It would now have to provide the logistics at the international cargo terminal. It would be given about two months time to provide infrastructure. Precious time has been lost and I am hopeful that the international cargo terminal will begin at least now,” Visakhapatnam MP and State BJP president K. Haribabu told The Hindu when contacted on Tuesday.
Growth in cargo exports
The value of air cargo exports handled at the Visakhapatnam airport has registered a significant increase from ₹929.79 crore in 2013-14 to ₹1,522.64 crore in 2014-15 and ₹2,823.46 crore (2015-16 till Februry), registering a growth of 48.29%.
“The growth is despite lack of exclusive storage, processing and examination areas for import, export, cold storages and other facilities,” says chairman of the Tours and Travels’ Association of Andhra O. Naresh Kumar.
“There is vast scope for increasing the export of pharma, textiles, flowers, marine products, gold and silver, which are presently being routed from Hyderabad and Chennai airports,” he says.
