VIJAYAPURA: The Infrastructure Development, Large and Medium Scale Industries Minister, MB Patil, who also serves as the district in-charge of Vijayapura, expressed his satisfaction with the progress of the airport construction at Vijayapura and assured that it is on track for an inauguration in April 2024.
Addressing reporters at a press conference held on Friday after a thorough review of the airport's progress, Minister Patil stated that the civil works encompassing the expansive 727-acre airport will be completed by December this year. Subsequently, the other technical aspects will be addressed. He expressed confidence in achieving full completion by April.
One of the significant improvements initiated by Minister Patil is the establishment of a night landing system, allowing aircraft to operate during nighttime.
"Earlier, the airport was planned for flight operations only during day time. But, soon after assuming office as the minister I took the initiative and instructed the concerned officials to include the night landing facility. Besides, the plan has been modified to facilitate the landing of jumbo-size airbuses," Patil said.
To facilitate the landing of jumbo-sized airbuses further acquisition of land to some extent is required and concerned officials have been directed to carry out the process.
The Minister hoped that the new airport would facilitate the export of commercial agro products including grapes and also foster tourism in the region.
To ensure seamless progress, Rs 50 crore was provided two days ago. The PWD has already applied for environmental clearance. The multidisciplinary team of the union government is likely to visit around August.
"Two fire extinguisher vehicles need to be placed at the airport as per the DGCA norms. The equipment needed to enable the night landing facility will be procured soon. As the installation of these including the weather forecast equipment would need around Rs.50 crore, the project would finally cost nearly Rs.400 crore," the Minister said and added that until now Rs 300 crore has been released.
Patil said that the union government has not provided funds for any new airports at Kalaburagi, Shivamogga, Hassan, and Vijayapura.
"For all these projects the state government has allocated funds and hence it is felt that it will be meaningless to handover these airports to the Airport Authority of India. The state government is mulling on operating and maintaining new airports on its own", he added.
The airport construction is divided into three packages. Package-1 with a budget of Rs 222.92 crore, includes work on roads, peripheral roads, aprons, taxiways, and approach roads. Package II, costing Rs 86.20 crore, is focused on constructing the passenger terminal, ATC building, power substation, compound, observation tower, and underground tank. Package-3, allocated Rs 19.30 crore, is dedicated to the work on electro-mechanical devices, while the remaining Rs 19.41 crore has been set aside for power supply, survey, and related expenses.
