The Hindu Business Line : Vizag airport new runway to be commissioned on June 15

ALL SET: Mr T. Subbarami Reddy, Union Minister of State for Mines, announcing the commissioning of the new runway at the Vizag airport from June 15. Seen with him are (from left) Mr K. Ramalingam, Chairman of the Airports Authority of India; Mr Anil Kumar Singhal, District Collector; and Mr V.S.K. Kaumudi, City Police Commissioner. - C.V. Subrahmanyam

Visakhapatnam May 25 The new 10,000-ft runway, with instrument landing facilities, will be commissioned on June 15 at the airport here. It will be in operation from 8 a.m to 8 p.m initially, and later on for 24 hours, according to Mr T. Subbarami Reddy, the Union Minister of State for Mines.

He made the announcement at a press meet on Friday after a high-level meeting of the naval authorities and the Airports Authority of India officials. Mr K. Ramalingam, Chairman of the AAI, and Mr Vinay Kumar, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Defence participated in the meeting.

Mr Reddy said though night landing facilities were in place, it might take a few more months for the navy to appoint the necessary additional staff for the 24-hour operations. The airport is under the control of the navy.

Terminal building

The minister said work on the new terminal building was going on at a brisk pace and it may be ready by the end of January 2008. "Even before that, the ground may be prepared for operation of international flights from Vizag, as temporary customs and immigration facilities will be provided," he said.

He said the frequent inundation problem would also be solved, as the channelisation of Meghadrigedda and Kondagedda waters had been taken up at a cost of Rs 70 crore. The airport won't be flooded anymore, he said.

Mr Ramalingam said there will not be any problem in commissioning the new runway by June 15. To a question whether the naval authorities had expressed any serious reservations over the runway, he said there were no major points of difference. The naval authorities had raised certain points and clarifications had been given, he said.

Under observation

Mr Vinay Kumar said certain minor flaws had been noticed in the runway but they could be rectified and would not in any way affect flight operations. However, the runway would be under observation for sometime even after it is commissioned,he said

Mr Kaumudi, the city police commissioner, said a separate police outpost would be set up at the airport to meet the needs of the passengers and to regulate traffic outside the airport.

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