Vijayapura Airport will be ready for launch by next April: Minister M B Patil

Vijayapura (Andhra Pradesh) [India], July 29 (ANI): Andhra Pradesh Infrastructure Development Minister M B Patil has said that the work related to the airport being built here is going forward speedily and it would be ready for launch by next April.
Addressing a press conference on Friday after examining the progress of the ongoing work by visiting the airport he informed that the civil works of the airport which is being built on 727 acres would be over by the coming December.
Followed by the completion of civil works the process of getting the required clearances will take place, he explained.
"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," he said.
"To ensure the progress of work without being halted, Rs 50 crore has been released two days ago and the airport would house all the facilities including the canteen, toilet similar to that of large airports. 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," Patil added.
About the deployment of fire extinguisher vehicles, he said that two such 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," he further said.
Informing, Rs 300 crore has been released so far for the project he said that the Department of PWD has already applied for environmental clearance.
"The multidisciplinary team of the union government has also been sought to examine the work and the team is likely to visit sometime during August," the minister said.
According to him, the works under package-1 at Rs 222.92 crores comprised road, peripheral road, apron, taxiway and approach road. The package-2 at Rs 86.20 crore included the construction of a passenger terminal, ATC building, electricity substation, compound, watch tower and underground tank. Package-3 at Rs 19.30 crore will be for electromechanical devices. In addition to this Rs 19.41 crore has been incurred on power supply, survey among other things.
Minister also revealed that the union government has not provided funds for any new airports at Kalaburagi, Shivamogga, Hasana, 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.
He hoped that the new airport here would facilitate the export of commercial agro products including grapes and also foster tourism in the region.
Nagathana MLA Vitthala Katakadonda, KSIIDC MD Dr MR Ravi, District Commissioner T Bhubalan, ZP CEO Rahul Shinde, SP HD Ananda Kumar and several other officers were also present on the occasion. (ANI)