New Delhi: The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has told a Parliamentary Committee that the unavailability of proper land has been hampering the government of India’s bid to expand its civil aviation sector. Officials from the Aviation Ministry said that the much-needed Bhiwadi Airport in Rajasthan, Sabarimala Airport in Kerala, Gaya Airport as well as Civil Enclave at Bihta in Bihar have been struggling due to the unavailability of land.
Significantly, the Aviation Ministry has already given the approval to construct airports and Civil Enclaves in these States. The Ministry informed the Parliamentary Committee that the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has projected a land requirement of 191.5 acres for a runway extension and eight acres for apron extension and city-side development to make the Civil Enclave at Bihta suitable for the operation of wide-bodied aircraft. “However, the land is yet to be handed over by the State Government.
Further development of the Civil Enclave is subject to the handing over of requisite land by the State government of Bihar. As regards the expansion of Gaya Airport, the Ministry informed that initially, 200 acres requirement for expansion of Gaya Airport was forwarded to the Bihar government way back in August 2009, which included 70 acres for runway extension, 30 acres for approach lights and 100 acres for future airport expansion.
“Subsequently, based on the site conditions, the land requirement was revised to 212.76 acres, which included 70 acres for runway extension, 42.76 acres for approach lights and 100 acres for future airport expansion. This was forwarded to the Bihar government in July 2017. Out of this, 23.84 acres have been handed over to AAI for approach lights, runway extension and for future airport expansion remains to be handed over by the State government,” officials informed.
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The Ministry further stated that on request of the Bihar government, a pre-feasibility study of sites identified by the State government at Nalanda was conducted by AAI in 2009. Subsequently, another site was identified by the State government near the Punpun River. “Both the sites were not found suitable for development of Greenfield Airport due to technical reasons,” officials said.
The Ministry has informed that the Government of India has formulated the Greenfield Airports (GFA) Policy, 2008. As per the policy, a State government or an Airport Developer, willing to establish an airport, is required to send a proposal to the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) for a two-stage approval, including ‘Site-Clearance’ followed by ‘In-Principle’ approval.
The Ministry further informed that AAI has conducted a pre-feasibility study at the request of Saran MP for the site identified by the district administration of Saran. “The site was found technically suitable. The report was forwarded to the State government. However, no formal request as per the Greenfield Airport Policy has been made by the State government for teh development of a Greenfield Airport,” an official said.
As regards the status of construction and operationalisation of Sabarimala Greenfield airport in Kerala, the Ministry informed that the proposal submitted by the State government in 2021 was examined in consultation with AAI & DGCA. Subsequently, the State government was advised to furnish the Techno-Economic Feasibility Study (TEFS) in 2021.
“After several reminders and follow-ups, the TEFS report was submitted by the State government in 2022 and the same was forwarded to AAI & DGCA for furnishing their comments on the TEFS report. Thereafter, in September last year, the comments and observations of DGCA & AAI were forwarded to Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) for comments and compliance, along with inputs, on specific observations of MoCA.
The KSIDC gave their compliance in October 2022 based on which the proposal was placed before the Steering Committee on November 22, for its consideration. The committee has advised KSIDC to give clarity on the availability of land. In addition, KSIDC has also been advised to engage an independent agency to carry out an Impact Assessment of the newly proposed airport on existing nearby airports as per GFA Policy and furnish the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of the project.
Referring to the Bhiwadi airport in Rajasthan, the Ministry said that as per the Greenfield Airports Policy, the Government of India has granted the site clearance to Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Limited (DMICDC) for setting up a Greenfield Airport for public use near Bhiwadi in Alwar district of Rajasthan. “However, application for second stage “In-Principle” approval has not been received from the project proponent till date,” officials said.
