Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group will invest in the infrastructure development of Durgapur airport, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Friday. The CM said this during an interaction in Mumbai after her meeting with Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray.
The Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport (commonly known as Durgapur airport), located at Andal in West Burdwan, is an integral part of the Bengal Aerotropolis project.
The airport has been built as an integrated component of Aerotropolis, with the airport city coming up around it. Aerotropolis is being developed by Bengal Aerotropolis Ltd, where Changi Airport of Singapore and West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation Limited have a stake.
JSW Infrastructure, a JSW Group company, looks after port and airport infrastructure development and maintenance. A source close to the development said: “JSW Infra is likely to do some work in Durgapur. It may be for development of the airport city along with managing the airport. There is a lot of scope in an airport city like developing IT park and other facilities.”
Incidentally, JSW Infrastructure was one of the bidders for Tajpur port as well. Earlier, JSW Infra had won the bid for managing Puri airport.
JSW Bengal Steel, an unlisted subsidiary of JSW Steel, holds the lease for 4,100-odd acres of land in West Midnapore’s Salboni since 2008. About 850 acres have been utilised for a cement grinding unit, power plant and railway siding, among others.
A 100-acre plot has been carved out for farming, apart from a small township for employees of the cement unit, a business headed by Parth Jindal, Sajjan’s son. During the 2022 Bengal Global Business Summit, Jindal had said that the group would build a 900-MW pumped storage hydel power project in Bengal. Bengal is planning for a third pumped storage power plant at Bandhunala in Purulia, to be developed on a PPP model.