Andal, Durgapur: After various verbal and other differences over two years, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s government finally demonstrated its support for an aerotropolis project here, with half the state cabinet and her arriving for the formal inauguration on Thursday.
Banerjee also renamed the project — a new airport, 200 km from Kolkata (plus a township and industrial park around it, which are yet to be built) — after one of her supposedly favourite poets. It is now to be known as the Kazi Nazrul Islam airport. The poet’s daughter, Kalyani Kaji, shared the stage with the CM at the event.
This was the state’s only major industrial project under implementation and the airport is expected to begin operations from the coming April. The entity in question is Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd (BAPL), a venture of local entrepreneurs, in which Singapore’s Changi Airports has a 26 per cent stake.
This project was conceived in 2006-07 during the Left Front government and the airport was to have been ready a year before. However, after Banerjee came to power in 2011, her government had opposed the project and held back various needed clearances. It also announced a decision to build another airport at Asansol, only 40 km away, among other things; that plan has now been given up. The developers also had to realign their land requirement and had various problems from the state government in acquiring whatever else was needed after the Left government had departed.
20/09/13 Probal Basak/Business Standard
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Banerjee also renamed the project — a new airport, 200 km from Kolkata (plus a township and industrial park around it, which are yet to be built) — after one of her supposedly favourite poets. It is now to be known as the Kazi Nazrul Islam airport. The poet’s daughter, Kalyani Kaji, shared the stage with the CM at the event.
This was the state’s only major industrial project under implementation and the airport is expected to begin operations from the coming April. The entity in question is Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd (BAPL), a venture of local entrepreneurs, in which Singapore’s Changi Airports has a 26 per cent stake.
This project was conceived in 2006-07 during the Left Front government and the airport was to have been ready a year before. However, after Banerjee came to power in 2011, her government had opposed the project and held back various needed clearances. It also announced a decision to build another airport at Asansol, only 40 km away, among other things; that plan has now been given up. The developers also had to realign their land requirement and had various problems from the state government in acquiring whatever else was needed after the Left government had departed.
20/09/13 Probal Basak/Business Standard
