Comments
Out Bureau
Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, has written to Chief Ministers of Telangana and Meghalaya, requesting their intervention in expediting various matters for strengthening aviation infrastructure.
In his letter to K Chandrashekar Rao, Chief Minister of Telangana, Scindia sought to highlight the issue of extension of period of Concession Agreement for Hyderabad International Airport Limited (HIAL). He mentioned that a Concession Agreement (CA) dated December 20, 2004 has been executed between Ministry of Civil Aviation, and HIAL for development, construction, operation and maintenance of Hyderabad International Airport. In terms of clause 13.7.1 of CA, HIAL has requested for extension of its concession period for another 30 years beyond the initial 30 years, beyond March 23, 2038 and till 23.03.2068. The State Government has been requested to re-examine the request of HIAL for extension of the period of Concession Agreement and furnish its recommendations to the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Scindia also underscored the issue of operationalisation of Warangal Airport and its inclusion under Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)-UDAN. He mentioned that Warangal Airport is within 150 km aerial distance of HIAL and can be developed with mutually agreeable solution, to be explored by the State Government with HIAL and Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Scindia requested personal intervention of Conrad K Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya, in expeditious operationalisation of Tura Airport.
Sangma was requested to look into issues relating to the Request of Meghalaya Government to Airports Authority of India (AAI) for taking over the Tura Airport, AAI and rhe draft MOU sent to State Government in 2013.
Subsequently, for expansion and development of airport for operationalisation of ATR-72 type of aircraft, AAI submitted proposal for acquisition of 56.5 acres of land and a DPR with development cost of ₹183.63 crore to State Government vide letter dated 12.06.2017. State Government vide letter dated 18.08.2020 informed that survey is complete and process of obstacle removal is being initiated. AAI vide letter dated 18.09.2020 requested for additional information regarding existing infrastructure, land, finance, traffic demand and action plan.
As per Air Safety requirement, provision of Runway End Safety Area (RESA) of 240 m x 60m is recommended and VFR operation with Simple Approach Lighting (SAPL) is proposed in Phase-1 along with City side infrastructure, runway extension. So an additional land of 68.5 acres has to be acquired. Thus, 125 acres needed to be acquired and handed over to AAI, free from all encumbrances and free of cost, for development of Phase-I the airport.
Further, for IFR operations with ILS and CAT-1 Lighting System, additional land of 115 Acre may be reserved by State Governments.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.