Mangalore, Mar 18: The long standing dream of mangalorean trade fraternity of having an air cargo complex has finally been materialized with Ajith Singh, Union Civil Aviation Minister inaugurating the international air cargo complex at old Mangalore Airport in Bajpe on Monday.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Singh said that the cargo complex covering an area of 1400 sq.mts has the annual holding capacity of 5000 metric tonnes of international import cargo, 13000 metric tonnes of export cargo, 18000 metric tonnes of domestic tin bound cargo and 21000 metric tonnes of domestic outbound cargo.
The Air Cargo Complex is electronically equipped with centralised cargo server at Kolkata, Mr. Singh said. The air cargo services from Mangalore will be linked to cities of Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai. Air cargo complexes already exist in Coimbatore and Trichy and now Mangalore has also been given an air cargo complex. It can handle valuable and sensitive cargo and has standard storage facilities including cold storage, the Minister added.
Future of airport
Shedding light on the future projects to be undertaken at Mangalore International Airport, Mr. Singh said that the runway will be extended up to 3400 metres, fit for operation of Boeing 747. 285 acres of land is required for the purpose which is to be provided by the state government. The approximate cost of the entire operation is Rs.250 crore of which Rs.100 crore have already been sanctioned. The project is in planning stage, the Minister said.
Direct flight services between Mangalore and Dammam will also begin soon, he said.
M Veerappa Moily, Union Petroleum Minister, recalled the early days of Mangalore Airport when the first prime minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had arrived here in the first ever aircraft to land on Mangalorean soil. Times have changed and Mangalore has grown into a huge commercial centre, Mr. Moily said.
Common User Terminal Equipment (CUTE) services were also inaugurated on the occasion.
Jayaprakash Hegde, Member of Parliament, Oscar Fernandes, Rajya Sabha MP, MLAs Abhayachandra Jain and UT Khader, J T Radhakrishna, Director, Mangalore International Airport, Ramanath Rai, District Congress President, were also present.
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