Work on airport in Vellore on the Chennai - Bengaluru Highway (NH 48) will be completed by August-end. Collector P. Kumaravel Pandian inspected the on-going works at the airport complex in Abdullapuram, a small village under Anaicut taluk in the district on the highway, on Wednesday to get first-hand knowledge of the remaining land required for the completion of the new airport. “A total of 10.72 acres is required to complete the remaining work in the new airport. Adequate compensation will be provided for the land that will be acquired,” Mr. Pandian said. Spread over 97 acres, the airport under construction has a runway, which is 850 metres long, taxiway, ground handling equipment, air traffic control (ATC) and aviation information receiving facility, terminal building and a oil depot. A small strip of 10.72 acres of private land between the new airport and the national highway is needed to construct additional facilities, especially the safety area at the end of the runway. Officials said that a high-level meeting to discuss compensation packages for the required land would be held in Chennai on June 6 (Monday) with the Collector and other senior officials of the State government to complete the acquisition process. At present, trees, four electrical poles and old buildings in the airport complex are being removed. Bitumen roads have been laid within the new airport to connect the runways and the main building complex.
. Vellore MP D. Kathir Anand, Anaicut MLA A.P. Nandakumar and K. Ramamoorthy (DRO), also inspected the work.
