Bhubaneswar: If all things go well, commercial flight operation from Utkela, another airport in Odisha will start soon. Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has granted license to start flight operations from the airport located in Kalahandi district.
Sharing this good news with people through his twitter handle, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, said, “Glad to share that #UtkelaAirport in #Kalahandi district has received DGCA license to start flight operations. Soon flight operations will commence to #Bhubaneswar. It will boost connectivity, commerce & tourism, fulfilling aspirations of people of the region.”
Initially Utkela will connect with Bhubaneswar followed by Raipur. The airport is being developed under RCS (Regional Connectivity Scheme) -UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagarik). The State Government has spent Rs 162 crore for land acquisition, construction of runway and buildings for the airport.
The Commerce and Transport Department has thanked the DGCA for licensing Utkela airstrip (2B-VFR) under UDAN scheme.
A team led by DGCA’s regional deputy director, Chief Aviation Security Officer (CASO), nodal authorities of Airports Authority of India (AAI) and CISF had visited the airstrip last month to assess the facilities and other safety benchmarks in presence of officials of the State Works Department.
The team had expressed satisfaction with the facilities to grant a 2B licence to the airstrip. They had suggested a few compliances which were addressed by the authorities.
The airstrips at Amarda, Jeypore, Jharsuguda, Rangeilunda, Rourkela and Utkela in Odisha have been identified for development under UDAN scheme. Of which, flight operations have commenced from Jharsuguda, Jeypore and Rourkela airports after the revival of these airports.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has completed expansion/upgradation works at its Jharsuguda and Rourkela airports in Odisha.
At Jharsuguda, expansion of apron for 4 Nos. of AB-320 type of aircraft with new Link Taxiway and allied works has been completed and Rourkela Airport has been upgraded from Code 2B to 2C, Union MoS for Civil Aviation, V. K. Singh said in Rajya Sabha today.
In a written reply to a question asked by BJD MP Sasmit Patra, Shri Singh said AAI has also undertaken expansion works at Bhubaneswar Airport including construction of Link Building between Terminal-1 and Terminal- 2 for integrated operations using Passenger Boarding Bridge (PBB), Construction of Parallel Taxi Track (PTT) and Rapid Exit Taxiway (RET) (Phase-II), Resurfacing of Runway and Conversion of Category – I lighting to Category – II Lighting System.
The total expenditure incurred so far for the above development works is Rs. 196.97 crore and the projected expenditure in FY 2023-24 for above works is Rs. 139.00 crore.
On the proposed international airport at Puri, the MoS said the State Government of Odisha has submitted an application under GFA Policy, 2008 to the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) for grant of ‘Site-Clearance’ for development of the greenfield airport at Puri.
As per GFA Policy, the 1947, proposal has been sent to the concerned stakeholders including AAI, DGCA and Ministry of Defence (MoD) for their comments.
After completion of this consultation with stakeholders, the proposal is required to be placed before the Steering Committee on Greenfield Airports for their recommendation, with respect to award of Site Clearance, he said.
As per the GFA Policy, 2008, the responsibility of implementation of airport projects including funding of the project, land acquisition, R&R etc. rests with the concerned airport developer including the respective State Government (in case the State Government is the project proponent). The timeline for construction of airports depends upon various factors such as land acquisition, mandatory clearances, removal of obstacles, financial closure etc. by the respective airport developers.