The expansion of the Mysuru airport project has gained further traction with the State government releasing the third tranche of ₹75 crore towards runway extension.
The amount will be transferred to the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Authority (KIADB) to complete the land acquisition process.
The existing length of the Mysuru airport runway is 1,750 metre and only ATR-type of 72 seater short-haul flights can be operated. The proposal is to expand the runway to at least 2,400 metre which will enable operation of Boeing and Airbus flights over long distance.
The administrative approval for Mysuru airport expansion was issued by the previous BJP government which had announced the allocation of ₹319.13 crore for the project in April 2022. Two tranches of ₹50 crore and ₹100 crore were released since then and there were apprehensions that the Congress government, which has to earmark nearly ₹60,000 crore to implement its five guarantee schemes, would be in a position to make allocation for infrastructure development.
The KIADB had already started the acquisition process through due notification and the third tranche will be utilised to pay the farmers in lieu of land at the rate of ₹1.5 crore per acre. At a meeting of the airport advisory committee held some time ago, Mysuru MP Pratap Simha had called upon the authorities to expedite the land acquisition process to take the project being implemented by the Airports Authority of India, to its logical conclusion.
The airport expansion project including the runway extension requires 206 acres of which 160 acres has already been acquired and compensation paid to the land losers. With respect to 46 acres the final notification had already been issued and the authorities were awaiting release of funds to compensate the farmers. The third tranche will be utilised to complete the process which will help expedite the civil works said Mr. Simha on Wednesday, and pointed out that airport project includes expansion of the existing terminal as well.
At present, Mysuru has connectivity to Hyderabad, Chennai, and Goa with over 80% occupancy rates and there is a demand for long-distance flights by business and trade bodies, to Mumbai and other commercial and industrial centres. But the biggest driver is the potential to bring in large investments to the city so as to give a thrust to industrial growth.
