State set to give green signal for Amravati airport

MUMBAI: The state government is all set to clear the airport plan for President Pratibha Patil's hometown, Amravati, though finance department officials have said it will not be feasible to have an airport in Amravati when an international cargo hub is coming up in Nagpur.
The government's plans to build an airport were speeded up soon after Patil became President.
The government had planned an airport for smaller craft, like ATRs and CRJs, by extending the existing airport. However, immense pressure was put on the state government for a greenfield airport to accommodate bigger aircraft. But the civil aviation ministry's policies do not allow a greenfield airport within a 150-km radius of an existing bigger airport and so the state has decided to extend the existing airstrip (Nagpur and Amravati are around 150 km away). "We have 71 hectares of land and need to acquire 400 more. The remaining land can also be given for commercial use. We can have halts for flights going to Nagpur. This will give a big fillip to the Amravati area,'' said a senior official.
As the civil aviation ministry has refused to build it, the airport will be developed by the Maharashtra Airport Development Company. R C Sinha, managing director of MADC, said the costs were yet to be worked out. "It will take around one year to acquire the land and another two years to construct it,'' said Sinha.
The Amravati airport proposal will come up before the cabinet soon.