‘Chakan will take time,let’s focus on Pune airport’

Kalmadi said,”It can take another decade to complete the work of the proposed international airport at Chakan. Therefore,there is a need to upgrade the amenities at the Lohegaon airport,which is being used for national as well as international flights”

He said additional land need to be procured from Indian Air Force (IAF) and the state government for facilities like cargo hub at the airport and promised that he would personally look into the matter. The length of the runway has to be increased to facilitate international flights from the city,he said.

“The Pune airport has to be developed to accommodate the growing international traffic. For this,we need a bigger runway and Instrument Landing System (ILS) for precision guidance to aircraft for safe landing. We also need more land. There is undeveloped land available near the airport,but,the developer owning it is not prepared to release it. The construction community should come forward to convince the builder to release it,” Kalmadi said.