The Airports Authority of India’s (AAI) plans for further expansion of the Tiruchi International Airport have got a shot in the arm with the Defence Ministry agreeing to transfer about 167 acres of its land for the project.
Tiruchi Member of Lok Sabha Su.Thirunavukkarasar, who had been pursuing the issue with the Union government, especially the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, said, in a statement late on Sunday night, that he was happy to share the information that the Defence Ministry had agreed to provide 166.97 acres of its land for the airport expansion project and expressed gratitude to the State and Central governments.
Confirming the development, the Airport Director S. Dharmaraj told The Hindu that the Defence Ministry had granted “working permission” and conceded that it as a major step forward.
“A small portion of the Defence land, about 13.83 acres on the northern side, would be used for runway expansion and the remaining portion of the lands would be future development of the terminal building,” he said.
Mr. Dharmaraj indicated that the actual land transfer/takeover would take place after the State government identified land of equal value to the Defence Ministry and the formal signing of a memorandum of understanding.
After the first phase of extension of the runway from 6,000 to about 8,000 feet, carried out over a decade ago, the AAI in 2010-11 had drawn up plans to expand it further to 12,000 feet in phases to facilitate operation of bigger and wide-bodied aircraft. It had also planned to create additional infrastructure and increase the passenger handling capacity to 3.52 million a year and the foundation stone for the new terminal was laid in February 2019. The new terminal building is currently under construction. It is designed to handle 2,900 passengers during peak hours and would have 48 check-in counters; 40 immigration counters and 10 aero bridges.
The AAI had submitted a request to the government seeking 510.30 acres, which included about 164.68 acres of defence land. In 2018, the State government had accorded administrative sanction to acquire about 345.62 acres, including wetlands, located mostly at the rear of the airport. The process of acquisition of the private lands is also going on currently.
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/tiruchi/article65681231.ece
