BHUBANESWAR: Nearly 10 months after the Centre granted site clearance for the proposed international airport at Puri, the Odisha government has submitted its detailed project report (DPR) seeking in-principle approval.
As per the information laid in the Parliament on Monday, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has received an application along with the DPR comprising techno-economic feasibility assessment, coastal zone status report and environment and socio-impact assessment report from the state government.
Even as the Shree Jagannath International Airport near Sipasarubali in Puri district was one of the major promises made by the previous BJD government, the DPR was not submitted until the MoCA flagged this last month. However, the Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) had floated a global tender for construction of the airport in public private partnership (PPP) in February before the DPR was submitted and in-principle approval was granted.
Sources said, the Commerce and Transport department has submitted the DPR on July 23, a day after Union Minister for Civil Aviation Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu informed the Rajya Sabha that the state had not submitted the project report for the proposed airport.
The Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) had also pulled up the state government for constructing a boundary wall of the airport on forest land by violating the provisions of the Forest Conservation Act. The Forest Advisory Committee had sought a detailed report on efforts taken to stop the work along with the status of action taken against the erring officials.
The DPR with the salient features of the airport and estimated air traffic has been submitted for the phase-1 construction at a cost of `2,203 crore. The airport will be developed in three phases and have a capacity of handling 4.6 million passengers per annum (MPPA) in phase-1.
The state government has earmarked 1,164 acre of land for the first phase construction of the airport and a multi-modal hub in an area of 100 acre. Idco will facilitate road connectivity to the project site with a four-lane access road from the existing national highway.
Although the project has not been awarded yet, Adani Group, Fairfax India Holdings Corporation and GMR Group had evinced interest to develop the airport.
Construction of Puri airport will be completed within three years from the date of commencement of work, the sources added.
The state at present has five operational airports at Bhubaneswar, Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Utkela and Jeypore. Three more airstrips - Rangeilunda, Amarda Road and Rairangpur (Dandabose) have also been identified for development and operation of flights under the Centre’s regional connectivity scheme.