The Punjab government expects domestic flights to take off from the proposed domestic airport in Bathinda, from September this year. The government has paid a total compensation of Rs 3.55 crore to land-owners of village Virak-Kalan, where the airport is expected to come up.
An official of the civil aviation department of the state said, “The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will soon start construction of civil air strip. The total expenditure on the project will be worked out by the AAI. We have permission for running two domestic flights every day from this airport initially. With the implementation of this project, the industrial activity of the city will get a major boost.”
Punjab on Tuesday took a major stride towards becoming the country's densest civil aviation destination with the clearance of a new Greenfield International Airport near Ludhiana.
This would be the third international airport in Punjab after the ones at Amritsar and Mohali, and the second to come up within a span of just 14 months. The state government received a communication from the ministries of defense and civil aviation giving their final approval to the new project on Monday. Disclosing this, Sukhbir Singh Badal, said that clearance to this dream project “signals the entry of Punjab into a higher orbit of international air connectivity and makes Punjab one of the finest and most easily accessible tourist destinations in South Asia. This would also propel the state into the zone of high intensity international trade and commerce.” The Aerotropolis would be built in the private sector by Bengal Aerotropolis and has Changi International Airport of Singapore as partner. To be developed in the nature of an aerotopolis—a modern age concept of a township-oriented airport—with a total fiscal lay out of Rs 17,500 crore, this would be the biggest infrastructure development project in Punjab after Guru Gobind Singh Oil Refinery near Bathinda.
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