Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed the Department of Infrastructure and Investment (I&I) to plan and construct at least seven new airports in the state under the ‘one district – one airport’ concept.
In a press release, the Chief Minister said, “One District – One Airport is a good concept.” CMO said.
The Chief Minister said this in a review meeting on Thursday.
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Andhra Pradesh has 13 districts with functional airports at Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupati, Rajamahendravaram, Kurnool and Cuddapah.
The government began the process of creating at least 12 new districts, but the CMO note did not specify whether the proposed new districts would also each have an airport.
The Chief Minister wanted the officials to work on the expansion of the existing airports by making an action plan within the time limit.
It has been more than a year since the contract for development of a greenfield airport at Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram district was awarded to the GMR Group. However, the work is yet to start due to constraints in land acquisition.
Official sources said the contract awarded by the previous Chandrababu Naidu government for development of an airport at Dagdarthi in SPS Nellore district was terminated by Jagan regime in July 2020, but no new developer has been chosen so far.
In the review meeting, the Chief Minister also directed the officials to ensure that the work of Bhogapuram and Dagdarthi airports is completed expeditiously.
He asked them to expand the existing airports on priority and focus especially on Vijayawada airport in view of the increasing traffic.
Incidentally, the Airports Authority of India expanded the Vijayawada airport and completed the runway extension.
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