New push to get stalled international airport plan moving

The much delayed international airport for Pune might just get a new lease of life with Pune divisional commissioner Prabhakar Deshmukh initiating a fresh round of discussion for the site this week.

Following opposition by farmers to the proposed site near Chakan,the divisional commissioner will initiate the discussion to finalise a site from the three alternatives assessed by the administration. The project has been pending for long. We need a new airport for the city and will initiate peaceful talks with locals, said Deshmukh. He will be assessing the three alternative sites two near Chakan and one at Pait village,all in Khed taluk.

Revenue department and Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) officials are likely to finalise the site during the talks and send suggestions to the government. MADC has already put up details on its website about developing the airport near Rajgurunagar,near Chakan.

MADC officials said according to their proposal,they would acquire 3,300 hectares of land from various villages at a cost of about Rs 1,200 crore. The website states that the airport is to be developed as a full fledged international airport with Code-F standards and will have the capacity of handling around 20 million passengers per year. The estimated cost of this airport including land acquisition and commercial development is to the tune of Rs 7,000 crore

We want to speed up the process for the new airport. With Pune witnessing exponential industrial growth,especially in the Chakan,Rajgurunagar and Talegaon belts,the proposed airport,in all likelihood,should be just about 35 km from the main city, said Deshmukh.

He added that the land required for the airport should not be undulating and should be in one stretch to avoid problems in acquisition.

Deshmukh said the airport issue has been pending because of opposition to the proposed site and change in agencies responsible for the project.

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At present,the MADC is the nodal agency for land acquisition while AAI will take the final decision,he added.

Though an area (between Bhama river and Rajgurunagar) adjacent the earlier site has been proposed by the MADC,there has been no communication from the government on the same. A proposal sent to the government stated 2,700 hectares of land was needed.

The new proposal by the MADC lists sites at Koye,Dhamne,Pait and Raudharwadi villages. In its proposal,MADC has stated that it needs at least Rs 1,000 crore for initial land acquisition and other formalities,as well as Rs 40 crore for the appointment of consultants for a techno-feasibility study of the area.

A senior official from Mantralaya said the project suffered a setback due to problems with funding. With the new RBI policy,there are issues regarding the funding of the project, said the official.

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Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar had earlier told The Indian Express that he was willing to help with the initial funding and that the Chief Minister should appoint a committee to speed up land acquisition.

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