New site for Pune International Airport is decided

By Accommodation times news Service

Pune will soon get it’s International Airport as the new airport site is announced, the land acquisition process for the airport is 65% completed and the state government has granted nod for the Khed Special Economic Zone site for the airport after six years and after assessing nearly eight sites.The present AAI master plan requires a plot of land, 6.34 km X 2 km, which the site has.

Talking about the progress of the project Tanaji Satre, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Maharashtra Airport Development Company said, “the obstacle-free land at the approach and take-off path, a large portion of acquired land for SEZ and the area meeting optimum airport requirements with two independent parallel runway operations made it a very feasible option.”

Earlier the site decided for the airport was the Chakan site, but the obstacles and hurdles like the large-scale land acquisition and displacement of families and the land required a large scale leveling as it was close to river Bhama. This complied the authorities to look for another site. The new site will ensure minimum displacements of families.

“The aiport needs 1,268 hectares of land, of which 65 per cent has already been acquired. Nearly 1,500 hectares was needed at the Chakan site. There were two high-tension lines which had to be shifted. But inthe present site, only four towers need to be shifted,” said MADC officials.