Land acquisition delays V'wada airport expansion.

Land is proving to be a major hurdle for Vijayawada airport's expansion while the other two airports, Rajahmundry (Rajamahendravaram) and Tirupati, have succeeded in this aspect. Tirupati airport is now even ready for international flight operations with all necessary setup in place.

On the other hand, the Rajahmundry airport is being expanded for which 850 acres of land has been acquired. It is expected that the expanded runway and other facilities will be ready in a year.

The expansion of Vijayawada airport, the only existing airport in the capital region, is yet to happen due to inordinate delay in land acquisition. Though around 700 acres of land has been acquired but farmers have been reluctant to part with their lands. According to officials, a part of the required land, that is 400 acres, will be acquired by the last week of October or in the first week of November. Thus, the stalemate pertains to the remaining 300 acres.

With Vijayawada becoming the temporary administrative seat for the state, the frequency of higher officials travelling from Delhi and other countries to the city has only increased.

However, most of them are facing a common problem: lack of international air connectivity. They have to get down at Chennai, Mumbai or Hyderabad and then take a connecting flight to Vijayawada, which is not available often. Other modes of transport are time-consuming.

“Many of them travel overnight to attend meetings. Given the magnitude of their financial empires and the fast deals they are involved in, they would not prefer to be bogged down by waiting time and would be more reluctant to undertake the journey if there is no faster mode of transport,” Muthavarapu Murali Krishna, president of AP Chamber of Commerce, said.

Several industrialists in Vijayawada opine that unless the international air connectivity to Vijayawada in not established, putting industrial development in the capital region on fast track will not be possible. “If we want our capital region to flourish industrially, we need to have faster connectivity, not just for people but also for cargo. We need a better and efficient international air connectivity,” VM Krishna, an industrialist in the capital region, said. Most of the industrialists hope that issues pertaining to land get resolved at the earliest.

THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS