The Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) seems to have zeroed in on the undulating land south of Khed Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for the proposed international airport in Pune. MADC officials have been exploring the industrial belt for long but now are focussing on this area. For the airport, the MADC needs 1,200 hectares of land.
"The land south of
SEZ is plain and belongs to private owners. We are exploring this option as the earlier move to building the airport on the SEZ land has fallen through. The land is undulating," said a senior MADC official who carried out a site study of the area. A meeting with the chief minister to take a final decision is slated for August 17.
Earlier, the MADC along with the Airport Authority of India (AAI) had zeroed in on the Chakan-Rajgurunagar belt. But later it was called off after a report stated that it would displace large number of families.
Government officials said there has been a huge delay in finalising the site for the airport. The move to set up the airport was called off due to impediments like local opposition to displacement of 1,008 families and the need to divert the Bhama river and the NH 50.
After the meeting with CM, the AAI would examine the site and clear the proposal. The government would allocate Rs 1,000 crore to acquire the land. According to the proposal, MADC plans to spread the airport over the 1,200 hectares of land with two 6-km-long and 2.5-km-wide runways. The construction is proposed to begin in 2015.
Earlier after a Central team had given the in-principle nod for the land in Chakan belt after they conducted an aerial survey in December and followed by a detailed survey by AAI. Talks were on to acquire land once the techno-feasibility study was ready. But the whole process was delayed as authorities were forced to look for another site.
Government officials who were part of the survey said they would prefer least displacement and were not keen on acquiring irrigated land for the project.
Source : indianexpress.com