Maharashtra govt to survey Chakan site again for international airport

The official said that a Nashik-based surveyer had provided the report to the Airport Authority of India and it needs to be re-looked as the area seems better. “We have to align the runways according to directives and this site seems to be better on this front,” said the official post a survey done last week.

With the state government already in a crunch situation, it is looking at a public-private partnership to set up the proposed airport. “Once we have finalised the land, we can look at the model so that it won’t put a load on the state government. While we would be looking at land owned by the government, land acquisition, if the need arises, will be very less and adequate compensation would be provided. We would put the said project on fast-track,’’ said the official.

Earlier, the said land was not considered due to land acquisition issues as it is irrigated land. However, with just 1,200 hectares to be used, officials feel the majority of it would be government land and so land acquisition should not be a problem. With no agricultural land to be included, the project is unlikely to face opposition, officials opined.

The earlier plan envisaged construction of two 4-km long and 60-m wide runways on 1,250 hectares of land while an equal area was to be used for commercial development, building amenities and for returning a percentage of developed land to farmers. The new international airport was proposed to counter restrictions on civilian traffic at the city’s Lohegaon airport belonging to the Indian Air Force base.

While the first site near Chakan was interfering with IAF operations, farmers were opposed to the one near Rajgurunagar as it involved acquisition of agriculture land. The third site at Khed required Bharat Forge to part with their SEZ land.