Sunday, September 20, 2020

Splashdown on Sabarmati

Ahmedabad: One vividly remembers images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi boarding the American-made Quest Kodiak seaplane in 2019 and landing on the Sabarmati riverfront. A year later, on October 31, Sardar Patel’s birth anniversary, PM Modi will turn a page in civil aviation history by inaugurating, a Union civil aviation and Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) collaboration on the first amphibious or seaplane services, among the 16 planned, from the Sabarmati riverfront.

More importantly, it will connect Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two most successful projects which he envisioned while serving as Gujarat CM. The Sabarmati riverfront and the Statue of Unity (SoU).

The service will be operated by low-cost carrier SpiceJet, with four flights a day. The ticket price will be around Rs 4,800 per person. Work on the waterdrome on the riverfront has been at a feverish pace, with the focus on developing an Indian model for waterdrome terminals. Two locations on the western bank of the Sabarmati riverfront, near Vallabh Sadan and near Ambedkar Bridge, have been identified to set up the jetties. On Saturday last week, parts of a floating jetty were transported in trucks to be assembled on the riverfront. Simultaneously, a piece of land, measuring about 2,000 sq metres has been identified for building similar jetties and other facilities at Kevadia Colony as well. A waterdrome has also been proposed at Panchmukhi Lake or Lake 3 of the Sardar Sarovar Dam.

This was discussed in a project review meeting chaired by chief secretary Anil Mukim in the presence of Union civil aviation secretary Pradeep Kharola in August-end. In all, under UDAN 3 and UDAN 4, four waterdromes have been proposed to be built in Gujarat. The other two are at Shetrunjay dam in Palitana and Dharoi dam in Mehsana.

Sources say bathymetric and hydrographic surveys of the seaplane routes which were to be undertaken by IWAI on behalf of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) are near completion as they are to be submitted by September-end. The choice of aircraft is also crucial. Sources say a DHC-6 or Quest Kodiak are the most likely candidates.

20/09/20 Times of India


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