Chhatrapur: Even as several proposals were put forth in the past, the expansion project of Rangeilunda airstrip, laid by the British during World War –II near Berhampur in Ganjam district, has not moved beyond the proposal stage.
Though the airstrip is just nine km away from the Silk City, is located in close proximity of the Berhampur University and has all potential to become a commercial airport, its facelift has been delayed due to a range of reasons, a report said.
Acquisition of private land is considered to be a major hurdle in the way of the airstrip’s expansion, it was learnt.
Meanwhile, the collector has convened a meeting May 6 to discuss about the land acquisition process for the project.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik held a meeting November 20 last year where it was decided that four airstrips of the state including this one would be upgraded within a year for launching of regular air services. The state government also agreed to provide land for the expansion project and sent a proposal to the Union civil aviation ministry in this regard. There is no headway so far in this direction, it was learnt.
In the mean time, the district road and building (R&B-2) department in its fresh estimation has prepared an outlay of Rs 51.5 crore for the project. The proposal includes the extension of the length of the runway from 895 mt to 1,800 mt and an increase in its width to 480 mt. At present, the airstrip is located on a patch of 150 acre of land. But an additional land of 370 acre is required for the proposed expansion, R&B sources said.
Of this, 253 acre belongs to private land category, a report by R&B executive engineer PK Dash said. Identification of the land has been over while Berhampur-Gopalpur road would be relocated to some other place, Dash who is also the airstrip in-charge, said.
On the other hand, a four-member delegation of Airports Authority of India (AAI), which had inspected the airstrip, proposed to increase the length of its runway to 3,500 mt and width to 500 mt in its proposal to make Rangeilunda a small airport.
It was also learnt that the Union government had given its nod to the proposal June 28, 2013. Following this, air services started through some small aircraft on PPP mode, thanks to the efforts of then collector V Kartikeyan Pandian. However, the service was stopped soon due to recurring losses. The civil aviation ministry is also yet to work on the report submit by AAI delegation.
Meanwhile, all eyes are on the meeting scheduled May 6 for the proposed expansion plan to see whether there is any progress in this direction. PNN
