Patel seeks meeting with Deshmukh over Nagpur airport project

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has sought a meeting with Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to resolve a deadlock over the development of Nagpur's international airport.
Bugged by persistent criticism that he is coming in the way of development of the ambitious Multi-modal International Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN), Patel told reporters here Friday that he was taking the initiative in the matter though the project is the baby of the Maharashtra government.
The state government-owned Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC), which is developing a multi-product Special Economic Zone (SEZ) around the Sonegaon airport at Nagpur along with the MIHAN project, is demanding handing over of the airport to it for the last four years.
While the civil aviation ministry's Airport Authority of India (AAI) has agreed to hand over the airport to MADC through an MoU and in a court affidavit, it has actually not done so yet.
Questioned on this, Patel said the state government has so far failed to acquire land in the immediate vicinity of the airport, submit a concrete plan for the airport development and call bids from competent companies for the purpose.
27/07/07 IANS/India eNews.com

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Categories: Airports Jul 2007, New Jul 2007