The Airports Authority of India has decided to re-draw the master plan for the Puducherry airport expansion.
The AAI, Puducherry, had prepared a plan for airport expansion by acquiring 114 acres of land in Puducherry and 272 acres from Tamil Nadu side.
The re-work of the master plan became a necessity after the territorial administration flagged AAI the huge cost involved in Puducherry side as the land earmarked for acquisition was in a thickly populated area.
Most part of the 114 acres was meant for airport expansion but with the acquisition in limbo, new residential colonies developed in the area, pointed out an airport official.
The re-drawing of the master plan came up for discussion during a meeting here between Chief Secretary Ashwini Kumar and Chairman of AAI Guruprasad Mohapatra, who made a short visit to Puducherry recently.
₹1,000-crore project
“In the meeting, the AAI agreed to re-work the land acquisition plan so that our financial burden was reduced. The residential areas will not be disturbed in the acquisition process,” Mr. Kumar told The Hindu .
The AAI was not legally bound to bear the cost of land acquisition. The agency was responsible only for developing the airport and managing the infrastructure, he said. However, it would bear the construction cost of runway and other expansion. The development of the airport would cost the agency around ₹1,000 crore, he said
The cost of acquiring the land would come to around ₹300 crore. With the present financial situation, the territorial administration would not be able to spent the amount from its coffers, he said. The AAI had suggested approaching the Centre for financial aid for acquiring land. The government had approached the Civil Aviation Ministry for the purpose, the Chief Secretary said. “Another option is market borrowing. We are working on all plans to see that the expansion plan is on track. The AAI itself has expressed optimism in developing the airport,” he said.
The AAI had proposed to expand the runway from the existing 1,502 m to 2,000 m to operate wide-bodied aircraft.
The last expansion of the runway from 1,222 metres to its present size was done in 2007 after the territorial administration handed over 20 hectares of land to the AAI.
