Kutch, which rose from the 2001 quake debris to an industrial powerhouse, is set to get a major boost with chances of a greenfield airport at Kandla brightening.
Deendayal Port Authority (DPA), which handles one of India’s busiest ports, Kandla, has agreed in principle to allot 600-1,000 acres for the greenfield airport. Sources said that the movement for a new airport at Kandla had been on since 2019, but the Airports Authority of India (AAI) was willing to fund the project only if the land was available.
DPA chairman Sushil Kumar Singh said, “We are ready to provide land to AAI in line with the land management policy applicable to the port. Two-three parcels have been identified, and AAI will decide which is suitable.”
Singh said DPA can’t transfer land ownership but can give it on a 60-year lease. “We will communicate to the civil aviation ministry the details of the identified land parcels.” At present, only two flights of 78-seater aircraft operate from Kandla airport, and the terminal capacity is 250-300 passengers.
The Federation of Kutch Industries Association (FOKIA), the umbrella organization of industries that came up after the earthquake, has also been pursuing the project with the AAI with a series of meetings. AAI has already prepared a master plan for 2049 for air connectivity to Kutch.
A senior AAI official said: “We submitted the plan with projections of passengers considering the industrial and tourism development of Kutch to the state govt a couple of months ago. The potential for a new airport is huge.” Before the Covid-19 pandemic, AAI had demanded 300 acres from the state govt to expand the existing airport. However, that much was not available and AAI revised its estimate to 178 acres. The acquisition hit a roadblock. So, AAI floated the idea of a greenfield airport by shelving the expansion plan.
In June last year, the Gujarat State Aviation Infrastructure Company Limited (GUJSAIL) wrote to the Kutch collector to identify a land parcel within a 20-30 km radius of Kandla for the new airport.
However, the process of identifying suitable govt wasteland is extremely slow, and nothing has materialized to date.