Foundation laid for new Rajkot airport

Chotila: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday laid the foundation stone for the Rs 1,405 crore greenfield airport for Rajkot, six-laning of Ahmedabad-Rajkot National Highway and four-laning of Rajkot-Morbi state highway at a function held in Chotila taluka of Surendranagar.

He also dedicated to the nation a fully automatic milk processing and packaging plant and a drinking water distribution pipeline for Joravarnagar and Ratanpur area of Surendranagar.

The proposed Rajkot airport near Hirasar, 30 km from Rajkot city, is expected to become operational in the next five years. At present, people from Saurashtra have to travel all the way to Ahmedabad to board flights for abroad. Rajkot, the commercial capital of Saurashtra, is a home to auto parts, engineering goods and imitation jewellery, while nearby Morbi is the biggest ceramic cluster in Asia.

In July 2017, the Union ministry of civil aviation granted approval and 'site clearance' for the new Rajkot International Airport that will be spread over 2,500 acres. The present domestic airport is right in the middle of the city and has no scope of expansion. The present air strip can cater to only small aircrafts. Rajkot currently has five daily flights — four to Mumbai and one to Delhi.

According to AAI, the new airport will be developed in phases to maintain operational continuity. The area of the building will be done depending of the final passenger capacity and cargo traffic calculations. The overall capacity of the completed terminal will be balanced with present days assessment of future maximum runway capacity.

Currently, 4.11 lakh people use the airport ever year. The passenger traffic is expected to touch 6.5 lakh once the new airport becomes functional. This is expected to reach the full capacity of 23 lakh passengers by 2030.