Airport runway expansion project set to take off

State government provides administrative sanction for land acquisition; move welcomed by stakeholders

A view of the Tiruchi airport runway.

Decks have been finally cleared for the implementation of the long-pending Tiruchi airport runway expansion project that was bogged down due to delay in land acquisition.

The State government has given administrative sanction for acquisition of land required for the proposed expansion of the runway at the fast growing airport, which has seen steady rise in passenger and freight traffic growth.

A formal government order is expected to be issued soon. The administrative sanction came after the issue was taken up onec again at the highest level, sources said.

The runway expansion was needed to handle wide-bodied aircrafts, which cannot land at the Tiruchi airport now because of runway length restriction.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) had proposed to extend the runway from the existing 8,000 feet to 12,500 feet.

It required over 500 acres of land, of which a little over 160 acres belonged to the Defence Ministry.

The land acquisition issue was discussed at length at various forums, but with no concrete action.

While the Defence Ministry agreed in principle to give its portion of land for the project, the issue was hanging fire on the remaining portion of the land that was to be provided by the State government.

The sources said the State government’s administrative sanction was for over 300 acres, including dry and wet lands, besides 40 acres of poromboke land.

District administration and AAI officials too confirmed that the runway expansion project had received the green signal. Now, they were awaiting a formal government order.

Sanction

Tiruchi Member of Parliament P. Kumar told The Hindu over phone that the Chief Minister had accorded administrative sanction for land acquisition, which would expedite the project.

Official sources said a team would be constituted to work on the exercise of land acquisition and payment of compensation.

The administrative sanction has gladdened many in the city.

The Air, Rail and Road Travellers Federation thanked the Chief Minister for granting administrative sanction for land acquisition.

In a statement issued here, the Federation president, M. Sekaran, said the runway expansion would enable operation of wide-bodied jets which would also spur freight movement from Tiruchi.