Bhubaneswar: The state government and the Centre has initiated the process to set up a greenfield airport on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar to accommodate code-E planes like Boeing 747 and Boeing 777.
A meeting regarding this was held here under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi here at the Secretariat in the presence of Civil Aviation joint secretary Usha Padhi, Khurda Collector and the Bhubaneswar airport director.
The Khurda district administration has identified land at four places — Malipada, Jankia, Tangiapada and Badasahi in the district for the proposed airport.
A team of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will visit the spots soon to conduct feasible study and select a suitable one, sources said.
“Discussion was held on future requirements and an assessment has been done on the expected date of the project,” said Bhubaneswar airport director Suresh Chandra Hota.
“Both government and private land is available at the four places. The acquisition of private land will be undertaken if required,” said Khurda collector Nirmal Chandra Mishra.
A few days ago, the AAI had sent a letter to the state government to identify around 2,000 acres for a greenfield airport where Code-E or wide-body aircraft can land.
The new airport has been proposed as the government has faced problems in expanding the Biju Patnaik International Airport here. About 64 acre is required to expand the runway of the existing airport to facilitate safe landing of code-E aircraft like Boeing 747, Boeing 777 and Airbus. The existing airport has only a 2,742-metre runway.
PNN