BHUBANESWAR: Is the announcement of a second airport near Bhubaneswar a poll gimmick? A tweet from the Union Civil Aviation Ministry claiming fast-tracking of the project has set off the question.
On May 30, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu was quoted in the tweet informing initiation of process for identification of suitable land to build a second airport near Khurda. While the Civil Aviation Ministry’s announcement gave impression that the project has been put on fast-track, sources in the State Government said location of the airport has not been finalised nor has any communication from the Centre been received yet. Hence, the posting on the micro-blogging site appears to be a publicity stunt, sources added. Since the second airport is proposed to be an international one, the Biju Patnaik International Airport may cater only to domestic traffic.
The big question is investment for infrastructure development of the second one would be not less than `10,000 crore and how does the Centre plan to source it. Will the Airport Authority of India (AAI) make such an investment or go for PPP mode? If sources are to be believed, nothing has been finalised as to how the project would be developed.
“The Centre has not yet made any budgetary provision or investment commitment. They want land and other associate things free of cost. The social media propaganda is only aimed at taking credit for the project. It is their strategy to derive political mileage ahead of polls,” said an official.In fact, the State Government had mooted proposal for a second airport after the AAI sought more land for expanding the runway of existing airfield in 2013.
It gained momentum last year after the AAI wrote to the Odisha Government seeking 2,000 acre of land for the proposed airport and accordingly, the Khurda district administration had identified three locations - Tangiapada, Malipada and Badasahi.
While nearly 1,606 acre of land, including 108 acre of forest land is available at most feasible location Tangiapada, about 1,230 acre including 58 acre of forest land is available at Malipada and 1,285 acre including 178 acre of forest land at Barasahi.
Though a technical team of AAI officials had visited the proposed sites on March 14 and 15 to finalise the location for the second international airport, the State is yet to receive any feasibility report.“There would not be any problem related to land acquisition at the three locations as most of the land belong to the State Government. The survey team has been briefed about it. We are waiting for the nod from the AAI,” said Khurda Collector Nirmal Chandra Mishra.
The second airport was envisaged to accommodate wide body aeroplanes like A 380 which cannot land at the existing airstrip due to short runway. It will also reduce air traffic congestion as the BPIA is emerging as one of the busiest airports among the tier-II cities.
The airport had recorded more than 32.5 lakh air passengers (both domestic and overseas) in 2017-18 registering a growth of around 39.4 per cent from the previous year.
