Jagan asks Centre to issue site clearance, NOC for Bhogapuram Airport

Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday asked the Ministry of Civil Aviation to immediately issue site clearance and NOC to the proposed development of an international airport at Bhogapuram, about 40 km from here.

The government has already identified GMR as the developer under PPP programme and the project has hit a roadblock due to delay in securing final clearance from the Centre after the approval issued in 2016 lapsed. In separate letters sent on Friday, Reddy asked Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Civil Aviation Minister Jyotirditya Scindia to intervene and immediately issue clearance to go ahead with the Bhogapuram International Airport project work.

The Chief Minister said as per the AP Reorganisation Act, the Centre had promised to examine the feasibility of developing Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Vijayawada as international airports with the required support.

The proposal by the State Government to shift the naval air station at INS Dega Airport to Bhogapuram was not considered by the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command in a letter addressed to the State Government.

As the existing airport in Visakhapatnam is surrounded by hills on three sides, the landing and takeoff of civilian aircraft are restricted only to one direction thereby allowing handling of not more than 10 flights an hour. As the airport is also used for military aircraft as the Navy is playing a key role in the Eastern Seaboard, it is not possible to operate both military and civilian flights simultaneously in the long run.

In a communication, the Navy conveyed to the State Government that shifting to Bhogapuram as a potent naval air station will cause long-term disruption and reduction in operational effectiveness. Unlike wide bodied aircraft, the military fights do not have any limitation to land and takeoff and hence INS Dega Airport is intrinsically suitably for military flying,, the Navy informed the Andhra Pradesh Government.

For civilian aircraft, Bhogapuram will have no topographical limitations and landing/takeoff can be done in a bidirectional runway, the Navy told the government.

The Chief Minister during a recent visit to Delhi told the Central Government to expedite clearances for the Bhogapuram airport and also sought required financial support. Land acquisition for the greenfield airport at Bhogapuram is on verge of completion.