Greenfield airport project in Rajkot gets green signal

Great news for Rajkot! The government has finally approved the Greenfield airport (at Hirasar) project near Rajkot. Hirasar, a village nearly 28 km from Rajkot, was finalised for the airport construction and the centre has now given clearance to this project which will cost over 1INR 1,400 crore. For the project, Airport Authority of India (AAI) has been allotted with 1,025 ha land. On the occasion, Vikrant Pandey, collector, Rajkot said, "This is great news for Rajkot. The feasibility study was completed and it was positive. The other surveys are underway at the proposed site. Moreover, 97% of the land needed (of the 250 acres) for the project is government land while rest is private land which needs to be acquired. Landowners have shown their willingness to give it for the project.”

The new airport idea was proposed by the state government as the existing one was quite small. Plans were to expand the existing runaway; however, things didn’t work out as the cost was alarmingly high. According to a senior official, “The Environment Ministry has given the environment clearance to the Gujarat State Aviation Infrastructure Company Ltd (GSAICL) for developing a greenfield airport at Rajkot.” The proposed airport will have a single runway that will operate ‘C’ category aircraft. According to the Gujarat State Aviation Infrastructure Company Ltd (GSAICL), the project will boost trade and tourism in Gujarat besides improving the connectivity in the state and country overall.
The project will employ more than 1,000 people directly and indirectly for various activities related to the airport project, and around 2,180 trees will be cut down to accomplish the mission. Also, nearly 632.24 ha of forest will be diverted for the construction of new Hirasar Airport.