VIJAYAWADA: The State government has constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) to examine the request of GVIAL (GMR Visakhapatnam International Airport Limited) for allocation/restoration of 500 acres of land adjoining the Bhogapuram Airport for City Side Development.
Minister for Finance Payyavula Keshav will be the Chairperson of the GoM, while Minister for Infrastructure and Investments BC Janardhan Reddy and Minister for Industries TG Bharat will be its members. Principal Secretary (Infrastructure and Investments) is the GoM convener. The GoM should submit its report/recommendations to the government at the earliest. Orders to this effect were issued by Chief Secretary K Vijayanand on Friday.
GVIAL had represented that the total land allotted for the Bhogapuram Airport Project as per the bid document was 2,703.26 acres, and financial bids were submitted considering the potential for City Side Development on this land.
However, the land was reduced to 2,203.06 acres at the time of issuing the letter of award withdrawing 500 acres from the land allocated for the City Side Development. Further, there was a delay for more than four years in handing over the land, leading to substantial increase in project cost from Rs 2,032.00 crore to Rs 4,952 crore. These two factors have severely impacted the viability of the project.
GVIAL further represented to the government that their vision for the 500 acres land parcel is to create a world-class aviation hub integrating urban development with requisite social infrastructure, hitech manufacturing and services with the airport facilities.
The government examined the representation of GVIAL, and constituted the GoM to examine the proposal for allocation/restoration of 500 acres of land adjoining the Bhogapuram International Airport for City Side Development.
The GoM will examine various aspects of the proposal, including the potential for the socio-economic development of North Andhra aligning with Vision for Swarna Andhra @2047, developing a world class aviation hub focusing on key ecosystems to support hitech manufacturing and services in the aviation sector, and revenue models suitable for the optimum development of this land.