Demand for expansion of Mangalore airport runway.

A meeting to review the progress of development works in Dakshina Kannada district has stressed the need to speed up the land acquisition process for expanding the runway at Mangalore International Airport.

Participating in the tri-monthly Karnataka Development Programme meeting recently, Moideen Bava, MLA of Mangalore North, said the expansion of runway is a necessity to bring bigger aircraft to Mangalore. The runway expansion requires the acquisition of land near the airport, and there is an urgent need to speed up that work, he said.

B Ramanatha Rai, Minister in charge of the district, who presided over the meeting, asked the officials concerned to furnish details on the runway expansion work.

The meeting was informed that the government has earmarked Rs. 121 crore for the acquisition of 185 acres of land near the airport.

The existing length of the runway is 2,450 metres. The proposal is to extend it by another 1,000 metres to handle bigger aircraft.

Bava said that any delay in expansion of the runway would have an impact on the traffic handling at Mangalore airport. He said the proposed airport in the neighbouring Kannur in Kerala would have an impact on the prospects of Mangalore airport.

Ivan D'Souza, MLC, wanted to know the progress in the construction of the approach road to the Mangalore airport from the city. Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd. (KRDCL) is the implementing agency for this work.

A representative of the corporation, who was present, informed the meeting that the work on the approach road was awarded to a Kasaragod-based agency.

Since the work was going on in a slow pace, the agency was served with the termination notice for the work. Following this, the agency has requested some more time for completion of the work. The meeting was told that the agency has assured the speedy completion of the work on approach road.

HBL