he proposed runway expansion at the Mangaluru International Airport continues to be in a deadlock with the issue of land for the expansion and related compensation being referred to a high-level committee.
It was on February 12, 2014 that the Director of Mangaluru International Airport wrote to the Dakshina Kannada district administration expressing the need for 190 acres of land for expansion of the runway from 8,000 ft to 13,000 ft. Following a survey of land available in Adyapady and Kolambe villages, the district administration proposed to the State government in November 2014 that land can be acquired by paying compensation of Rs. 121.05 crore.
Stating that the compensation was too huge for the government to bear, the Principal Secretary, Finance Department, wrote back to the district administration asking it to take up the work in two phases. Hence, the district administration was proposing to acquire 61.47 acres.
Raising this issue during a quarterly review meeting of development programmes here on Tuesday, Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim said that for a 13,000-ft runway, there was requirement of nearly 200 acres of land. To enable landing of all types of international aircrafts, a runway of 11,000 ft would meet the requirement for which 60 acres of land was needed. “The local MLA wants the runway to be 13,000 ft long,” he said.
Mangaluru South MLA J.R. Lobo said that Minister for Infrastructure Development has expressed the difficulty the State government is facing in giving compensation of Rs. 121.05 crore. A meeting should be called to consider the proposal on a public-private-partnership model. He said that there was a need for a high-level meeting to discuss the issue. Agreeing with Mr. Lobo’s suggestion, district in-charge Minister B. Ramanath Rai, who chaired the review meeting, said that a meeting of officials from the State, the Airport Authority of India and elected representatives with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah would be called in Bengaluru to sort out the issue.
The local MLA wants the runway to be 13,000 ft long, says
Deputy Commissioner
