Foundation stone laid for Shimoga airport

Hyderabad: After Gulbarga, it is the turn of Shimoga now. A consortium of developers led by Maytas Infra Ltd, Hyderabad has started work at the greenfield regional airport in Karnataka.

The Chief Minister of Karnataka, Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa, laid the foundation stone for the Shimoga Airport, which is estimated to be developed at a cost of Rs 110 crore by the consortium.

The consortium also consists of NCC Infrastructure Holdings Ltd and VIE India Project Development and Holding LLC. The same consortia are developing the first greenfield regional airport in Gulbarga, for which the foundation stone was laid recently.

A separate special purpose company has been set up for the purpose where the consortium partners Maytas Infra, NCC and VIE will have a shareholding pattern of 37 per cent, 37 per cent and 26 per cent respectively.

The construction period of the project is 24 months from the date of signing the agreement with a concession period of 30 years, extendable by an additional 30-year term, according to a notification sent to the Bombay Stock Exchange by Maytas Infra.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Teja Raju, Vice-Chairman, Maytas Infra said, “Shimoga Airport would essentially enhance the tourism scenario here and provide a strong impetus to the development activity in the region. The project will be executed with highest standards of terminal technologies and transport facilities.”

During the first phase, the airport will provide facilities for ATR-72 type aircrafts with a runway length of 1,500 metres. The second phase will render facilities for A320 type aircrafts with a runway length of 3,100 metres.

The industrial scenario of Shimoga is dominated by the automobile, ancillary components, engineering-based industries, forge and foundry units, and agro-processing industries.