Wednesday, November 01, 2017

Kutch industries demand new international airport at Kandla

Rajkot: With large industrial investments pouring in Kutch and the state government promoting tourism in a big way, the industries in the region have demanded a new greenfield international airport at Kandla. The Federation of Kutch Industries Association (Fokia) has written a letter to the Union ministry of civil aviation stating that a new international airport at Kandla was the need of the hour.
Kutch has commercial flights operating from the military airbase in Bhuj where activity is restricted. The Kandla airport is spread over 268.2 acre and has a terminal building capable of handling only 100 passengers at a time. The existing runway at the airport cannot handle bigger aircraft.
The industry body has further stated that the current airport at Kandla was very small and under the recently launched UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Har Nagrik) scheme of the central government flight operations between Kandla and Mumbai had commenced. However, there was no scope of expansion of this airport, said Nimesh Phadke, managing director of Fokia.
"The expansion of Kandla airport was sanctioned many years ago, but the land for expansion was handed over to the Airport Authority of India as the land parcel in the vicinity of the airport has significant commercial and residential development. These developments are hindering expansion of the existing Kandla airport. Hence, we request you to evaluate the option of developing a new international airport at Kandla," wrote Phadke in his letter to the Union aviation ministry. Phadke said that government of Gujarat too has backed the demand for the new airport and shown readiness to extend all support to the civil aviation ministry.
01/11/17 Times of India

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