TIRUCHY: The expansion of the city airport has gained momentum with the formation of a special team for land acquisition, which will begin its work within a week. Speaking to media persons here on Saturday, Airport advisory committee president MP P Kumar said the district administration had been instructed to accelerate the land acquisition for the project. In order to expand the existing runway on both sides, land would be acquired. Since 510 acres would be needed for the project, it was the responsibility of the the district administration to acquire the land and hand it over for the work. Within the 510 acre, 164.5 acre belonged to the Defence Ministry and due formalities would be completed soon. The district administration had found an alternate site to compensate the land given by the Defence Ministry. Meanwhile, 188 pieces of dry land and 116 pieces of wet land owned by farmers would be acquired and enhanced price would be given as compensation to the owners, he said. “In order to acquire land, a special team with officials including, DRO, JD of Agriculture, PWD officials, Corporation officials and Airport Director has been formed. The team will commence its work within a week”, Kumar informed. Initially, the runway expansion would be undertaken. The present runway’s length is just 8,000 feet. In order to obtain international status for the airport, the runway should be at least 9,000 feet in length. “In phase I, we will stretch the runway to at least 10,500 feet and subsequently, it will be extended up to 12,000 feet”, Kumar explained. Earlier, the advisory committee discussed the infrastructure facilities in the airport. A visitors’ restaurant would come up at an estimated cost of Rs 10 lakh. “It is at tender level and expected to be commissioned by May this year”, he explained. Besides, internet facility inside the premises would be provided and a railway reservation counter would also be opened. The long pending demand of pre-paid taxi system would be introduced with the official sanctioning of the district collector. “The collector is entitled to fix the fare. Once the fare is fixed, the pre-paid taxi system will be launched”, the MP said. The advisory committee meeting was chaired by the president MP Kumar. DRO P Manickam, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Intelligence) C P Kandasamy, Assistant Executive Engineer S Nagesh, DSP (Immigration) Sridhar andCISF Sandeep Kumar were present.
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