Bhubaneswar: Top officials of the General Administration and Public Grievance Department (GA & PG) Friday enquired with the Chairman of the Orissa Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) regarding the status of its attempts to identify land for a new international airport.
“Kindly intimate the availability of land, if any, for construction of the new international airport in the Greater Bhubaneswar Master Plan beyond Khurdha.…….The details of the background and the present status of the earlier proposal may please be furnished,” said P K Biswal, Additional Secretary, GA & PG, in his letter addressed to the Chairman of IDCO, Friday.
Earlier, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had informed the government that the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) is not suitable for expansion and that the AAI needs around 1,500-2,000 acres for constructing the new airport.
Significantly, the government immediately responded to the request of AAI and Additional Secretary P K Biswal October 18 directed the IDCO Chairman to identify land. According to government officials finding 2,000 acres has turned out to be challenging as the government wants land near Khurda.
Meanwhile, AAI officials informed this daily that the new airport will not affect the investment prospects of BPIA.
“The new airport will take 10 to 15 years. We had earlier indicated further investment at BPIA of around Rs 200 crore within the next three years. So the new airport will not affect investment prospects in BPIA,” said a top official of AAI.
With the state already getting a positive response for international operations, the AAI has allowed more commercial projects and runway expansion at BPIA. According to officials, BPIA recorded 27 per cent increase in passenger traffic in 2015-2016. Although, many projects like runway expansion and airport terminal merger are in the pipeline, AAI officials opined that the BPIA cannot handle wide bodied aircraft.
“BPIA cannot handle wide bodied aircraft and jumbo jets. This apart, it is not suitable for expansion. That’s why we have decided to construct a new airport in Orissa. So after identifying land we will conduct a feasibility test to verify whether it is suitable for an airport,” said a top official of BPIA.
