Vijayapura Airport in April 2024; Night landing of flights is also allowed: Minister MB Patil

VIJAYAPURA: The Vijayapura airport is under construction and will be inaugurated by April 2024, said Infrastructure Development Minister and Large and Medium Industries Minister M B Patil.

Speaking at a press conference after a comprehensive inspection of the airport works here on Friday. Minister M B Patil said, The civil works of the airport, which is coming up on an area of 727 acres, will be completed by December this year. After that, other technical works will be done and they are confident that everything will be completed by April.

The previous BJP government allowed air traffic here only in the morning. But after I became the minister, I directed that there should be facilities for landing the aircraft even at night. Not only this, the plan has also been modified so that large airplanes like Air Bus can also land here, he said.

Two days ago, Rs 50 crore was released for this project so that the works do not stop due to technical reasons. Here every facility including toilets and canteen will be the same as in a big airport. He also explained that the land acquisition required for landing of Airbus type planes will also take place and the direction has already been given in this regard.

As per DGCA norms, the airport here requires two air defense fire fighting vehicles. A clear direction has also been given for the collection of equipment required to facilitate night landings. Along with this, equipment that provides information about weather needs to be installed. All this will cost approximately 50 crore rupees. Thus, the estimated cost of the airport is likely to be Rs 400 crore, he said.

So far a grant of Rs 300 crore has been released. Officials of the Public Works Department have already applied for permission from the Environment Department. As the works are nearing completion, this process will be smooth. In addition, a multi-disciplinary team of the central government has been requested to inspect the work of the airport, and the minister expressed confidence that this team can visit Vijayapura in the month of August.

The airport works are being done in three packages. In Package-1, road, peripheral road, apron, taxiway, approach roads are being worked on at a cost of Rs 222.92 crore. In package-2, passenger terminal, ATC building, power substation, compound, observation tower, underground tank are in progress at a cost of Rs 86.20 crore. In Package-3, work on electro-mechanical equipment is in progress with an allocation of Rs 19.30 crore. Patil also informed that Rs 19.41 crore has been allocated for the works of electricity supply, survey etc.

Nagthan MLA Vitthal Katakadhond, KS IIDC Managing Director Dr MR Ravi, District Collector T Bhubalan, District Panchayat CEO Rahul Shinde, District Superintendent of Police HD Anand Kumar and other officials were present on the occasion.

The central government has not given money for the works of many airports in the state including Kalaburagi. Apart from Kalaburagi, Shimoga, Vijayapur and Hassan airport have not been paid money. The state government has given money for everything. Therefore, the Minister explained that since it does not make sense for us to invest money and entrust it to the Civil Aviation Authority of India, why should the state government not manage these things?

Importance to cargo, tourism

It is hoped that after the Vijayapura airport becomes operational, the export of other agricultural products, including grapes, which is the main commercial crop of this region, will be facilitated. District In-charge Minister M B Patil said that in this regard we will talk with the concerned people and help our farmers.

The district is also lagging behind in the field of tourism. He explained that special efforts will be made to attract tourists once the airport is established.