BHUBANESWAR: The State Government on Tuesday gave in-principle approval for setting up an airport near Dhamra in Bhdrak district. The approval was given at a high level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary AP Padhi. The Dhamara Port Company Limited (DPCL) had proposed to set up the airport near its port for better air connectivity.
Earlier, the State Government had asked DPCL to prepare a detail project report (DPR) for establishment of an air strip over 225 acres of land in the vicinity of Dhamara port.
The Bhadrak district administration is stated to have acquired 444 acres of land for the proposed airport and another 500 acres for port based industrial park, official sources said.
The Chief Secretary reviewed the progress of land acquisition for the airport and industrial park through video-conferencing with Bhadrak Collector Gyanranjan Das. He directed Das to expedite the process of land acquisition.
Padhi further directed the Dhamra port authorities to set up a high quality community health centre for the benefit of the local people. The meeting also decided to set up a police station near the port area.
The Chief Secretary asked the departments concerned to give necessary administrative approval for the two proposals.
Chief Executive Officers of DPCL Subrat Tripathy told the meeting that a High School affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has started functioning.
Tripathy further informed that the company has utilised `19 crore in the last four years under its corporation social responsibility (CSR) activities and `9 crore has been provisioned for the current financial year.
Meanwhile, the Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ), India’s largest port developer and part of the Adani Group, has launched the phase II expansion of the Dhamra port which will increase its cargo handling capacity to 100 million tonne per annum from 25 million tonne now.