• Developer for Bhogapuram airport near Vizag likely by January ’17

    The AP government is pinning hopes on finalising the developer for the Bhogapuram International Airport by January 2017. The land acquisition for the project is expected to be completed by the Vizianagaram district administration by December this year.

    According to senior officials, the technical bids from developers are expected to be opened during the last week of September and as of now, eight firms have expressed interest in participating in the tender process for construction of the Greenfield international airport at Bhogapuram, which is around 60 km north of Vizag.

    According to project details, the airport is to be developed on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis with the first phase costing Rs 2718 crore and a terminal capacity to handle around 6.3 mppa (million passengers per annum). The second phase is expected to be developed at a cost of Rs 1798 crore with a terminal capacity of around 18 mppa.

    “We expect the land acquisition for the project to be completed at the maximum by the end of this year. We have already held the pre-bid meeting and we have received a very good response,” a senior AP government official said. He said, “Our target is to kick off the project by January 2017. There are about 8 firms including all leading players like GMR, GVK, Airports Authority of India, Tata Group and Essel Infrastructure among others showing interest in the project.”

    According to revenue department sources in Vizianagaram district, the project requires around 2800 acres for the overall development of the airport project. “Out of the 2800 acres, around 1600 acres is Patta land. Already, farmers owning about 900 acres have consented to provide the land for the project and the process of issuing compensation is being carried out. We have been able to do this within one year’s time,” a revenue department official said. He also said, “The remaining farmers have also agree to handover the lands for the project and we expect the land acquisition at the most by December this year.”

    Incidentally, in 2015-16, the existing Vizag Airport had handled around 18.04 lakh international and domestic passengers registering a growth of 64.1 per cent over 2014-15. During the same period, international air passenger traffic touched 1.21 lakh passengers with a growth of 102.7 per cent and domestic air passenger traffic touched 16.83 lakh passengers with a growth of 61.9 per cent. Tim Horton Womens Jersey

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