Telangana govt finalise proposals for setting up new airports plan

Hyderabad: The Telangana state government has finalised proposals for setting up new airports in the state. The proposals had been lying pending for over 18 months due to uncertainty over their locations and land acquisition.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has finally given his nod for land acquisition for setting up airports at Adilabad, Warangal, Khammam and Nizamabad, which will be submitted to the Union ministry of civil aviation for approval. However, the proposal on the Shamirpet airport has been kept pending.

While the Khammam airport has been proposed at Kothagudem, the Warangal airport has been proposed at Mamnoor. The government has offered to allot an additional 225 acres at Mamnoor in Warangal for restoration of the Nizam-era airport.

Mr Rao offered speedy land acquisition for the proposed airports and asked the Infrastructure and Investment department to pursue these proposals with the Centre.

He has also urged the Centre to expand the proposed Air Force Station in Adilabad to offer civil aviation services for which additional land has been offered.

The government has proposed to set up a greenfield airport in Kothagudem. It has already identified land to an extent of 1,600 acres at Punukuduchelka village in Kothagudem mandal, which is 240-km (aerial distance) from Hyderabad international airport.

After receiving proposals from the TS government, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will order for a pre-feasibility study based on which a final decision on setting up these airports will be taken by the Centre.

The TS government had already engaged the consultancy firm RITES Ltd to undertake a pre-feasibility study on these airports. The firm has completed the pre-feasibility study of Kothagudem airport and has found the project to be viable.

An official in the Infrastructure and Investment department said, “Similar studies will be undertaken for other airports also, which would be useful in securing approvals from the Centre.

The government is keen on completing land acquisition for all airports within a year and hand the same over to the Civil Aviation department so that the projects can be executed fast without any hurdles.”

However, doubts are being raised over securing approval for the Nizamabad airport since it cannot meet the norms of having a minimum aerial distance of 125 km between both airports when compared with Warangal. But the TS government is hopeful of securing approval on the basis of the pre-feasibility report.