VISAKHAPATNAM: BJP MP GVL Narasimha Rao met Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Secretary Giridhar in New Delhi on Friday and urged them to reduce the period of runway resurfacing works at Visakhapatnam airport by adopting modern technology.
He informed them that it was planned to close Visakhapatnam airport, which is under the control of Indian Navy, for night operations (9 pm to 8 am) from November 15, 2023 to April 1, 2024 to undertake runway resurfacing works.
Stating that the closure of airport for night operations for a long duration of four-and -a-half months would severely affect business activities and cause severe inconvenience to passengers, Rao urged the Defence Minister and the Defence Secretary to intervene in the matter and reduce the period of Visakhapatnam airport runway resurfacing works by adopting modern methods.
“Military Engineering Services (MES) has completed the resurfacing of a portion of the runway at the Pune airport in a record time of 14 days, which took 28-35 days previously, and this helped the resumption flight operations early,” Rao stated, in a letter written to the Defence Minister.
The use of new Airport Grade Steel Guard (AGSG) technology to apply a special protective coat to the runway designed to preserve, and extend the life of existing asphalt pavement surface, is helpful to complete the works quickly, the MP suggested.
He also requested the Defence Minister and the Defence Secretary to revise the closure timings of the airport runway for resurfacing works from 11 pm to 6 am to minimise disturbance to the flight schedules.
After the meeting, Rao said both the Defence Minister and the Defence Secretary were very responsive, and promised to examine the matter of early completion of resurfacing works at Visakhapatnam airport.