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New terminal building at Vizag airport under construction. While expansion work here is on schedule, progress on airport projects in many other cities in the State has been delayed by land acquisition problems.

Ch. R. S. Sarma

Air connectivity to coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema region in the State is set to improve in the coming years, if the projects taken up by the State Government — some in association with the Airports Authority of India and others in the public-private partnership mode — take off as planned. The State Government has made a good beginning. But problems persist, especially in the matter of land acquisition, and it also remains to be seen when these projects will be completed in view of the economic recession.

In 2007, the State Government signed MoUs with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for development of Madhurapudi (Rajahmundry) airport, Gannavaram (Vijayawada) airport and the ones at Kadapa and Warangal.

According to the agreements, the State Government would make available the extra land required for the expansion works and the AAI would take up the projects. But the State Government is finding it difficult to provide as much land as sought by the AAI and has asked the latter to prune its land requirements. Of the four projects, only Kadapa has made significant progress, with 45 per cent of the work completed. For the other three airports, additional land is still to be acquired. Land acquisition may be taken up during 2009.

The airport at Gannavaram, 20 km from Vijayawada, was built by the British and precious little has been done for its improvement, even though there have been periodical announcements that the runway would be lengthened and strengthened to facilitate landing of bigger aircraft.

Centrally situated in the State and in the midst of a rich agricultural belt, Vijayawada lacks proper air connectivity. The city is connected only to Hyderabad and Chennai. The Andhra Chamber of Commerce has decried the delay in the project. Work on the runway is yet to begin.

The importance of the airport at Madhurapudi, in the vicinity of Rajahmundry, under the control of the AAI, is quite evident, as it is located in the heart of the Krishna-Godavari basin where ONGC, Reliance, the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation, Cairn Energy and several others are in business.

Rich in gas reserves, the K-G basin offers tremendous scope for the development of the region. The Godavari delta is also agriculturally rich.

Keeping in view the potential of the airport, the AAI has sought the State Government to provide 1,600 acres more for the development of the airport in phases, but the latter has urged the AAI to limit the requirement to 850 acres or so. Night landing facilities have been created at Madhurapudi, and the certification by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation is awaited.

The airport at Renigunta in the vicinity of Tirupati, the famous pilgrimage centre, is the third major one proposed to be upgraded by the AAI, and it is also planned to operate international flights from Renigunta. But at Renigunta, too, the State Government is unable to provide as much land as sought by the AAI. There are plans to construct a new passenger terminal at Renigunta and create other facilities for international flights.

In addition to these projects, the State Government, in association with the AAI, is also planning to take up construction of greenfield airports at Ongole and Nellore in the public-private partnership mode, but it remains to be seen when these projects will really take off.

The expansion project at Vizag airport, taken up during the last phase of the Telugu Desam rule, is nearing completion. The new runway has been built and put to use. The facilities for the operation of flights round the clock have been created.

But, for want of adequate staff, flights are being operated from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with a break of three hours in the afternoon. The new terminal building will be ready for commissioning by mid-January and, hopefully, international flights may become a reality sometime during 2009.

More Stories on : Infrastructure | Airlines | Andhra Pradesh

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