Mangaluru Airport runway extension project at a standstill

Mangaluru, Aug 19: The much-anticipated proposal to extend the runway at Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) has failed to take-off, owing to the heavy estimated cost and financial non-viability of the extension project.

A year ago, the Director of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had submitted a preliminary technical feasibility report on the airport’s expansion to the state government, which included a proposal to extend the existing concrete runway by 4,000 feet.

The proposed extension project required the acquisition of 289 acres of adjacent land as the extension involved filling up the bordering valleys with mud. This was estimated to cost Rs 1,120 crore.

However, due to the large estimated cost of the project apart from the required acquisition of the adjacent land, the AAI has given up the project. At present, there is no progress on the proposal, and hence, the expansion of the 8,000-foot long runway in the near future looks doubtful.

Sources from the MIA have revealed that the proposal to extend the airport runway has been submitted several times over the past two years. The expansion of the runway had proposed acquisition of 289 acres of land including around 190 acres of private land from Adyapady and Kolambe villages. The preliminary report for this proposal had been submitted to the state government on November 13, 2014.

However, owing to the heavy estimated cost, the principal secretary to the Revenue Department, Government of Karnataka had opined that the project should be taken up in different phases.

The next proposal submitted to the state government proffered the plan to extend the existing runway to 10,000 feet, which would require the acquisition of 120 acres of adjacent land, at an estimated cost of Rs 400 crore. However, there was no positive response from the government for this proposal.

Speaking in this regard, Mangaluru South MLA J R Lobo said that it would be difficult for the government to fund the extension project due to the heavy estimated cost.

A letter had been written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Minister for Infrastructure Development Roshan Baig urging the government to initiate the runway expansion project through public-private partnership, after discussing the project feasibility with the local MP and MLAs.

Mangaluru International Airport has direct connectivity to several cities in the Middle East, including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Sharjah, Muscat, Doha and Dammam, and the expansion of the runway would attract bigger aircrafts such as Boeing 787 to the airport.