Land identified for greenfield airport in Odisha’s Khordha

Bhubaneswar: Odisha government identified around 1,200-1,500 acre land for a proposed greenfield airport in Khordha district, informed Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) Director Suresh Chandra Hota here today.

A team of Airport Authority of India (AAI) has made survey for the new airport near the state capital, he said after the meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi at state secretariat on Friday.

Earlier, the state government had initiated the process for identifying 1,500-2,000 acre land in Khordha after the AAI proposed for a greenfield airport near Bhubaneswar.

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The General Administration (GA) of the state government had asked Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) and Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) to intimate about the availability of land for the purpose.

The process was initiated after AAI Chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra in a letter had indicated to the State government requirement about 1,500 to 2,000 acre of land for development of a greenfield airport near Bhubaneswar following his recent visit here.

Mahapatra during his visit had held discussions with Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi and other senior officials regarding extension of the runway of BPIA.

He had said that that a minimum of 64 acre of land was required for expansion of the runway to operate international flights from the BPIA.

As removing various existing structures could pose a big hindrance in the acquisition of the required land, he wrote to the government to identify land for a greenfield international airport near Bhubaneswar.