Dagadarthi airport works on fast track

Nellore: Here is good news as the long pending dream of Nellorians of having airport is being realised very soon as the Ministry of Aviation accepted the proposal of constructing airport at Damavaram village of Dagadarthi mandal. In the recently held District Review Committee meeting, MA&UD Minister P Narayana announced that works will begin soon as the preliminary discussions with Union Minister for Civil Aviation Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu concluded with fruitful results.

According to the Union Minister, the representatives of Airports Authorities of India will inspect the airport location, around 39 km from the district headquarters, in November second week.

The proposed airport is expected to be constructed in 1,379 acres with an estimated cost of Rs 468 crore.The State government has so far acquired 650 acres and land acquisition is under progress for the remaining 729 acres in various stages.

District Collector O Anand has submitted the report after top officials of R&B and Infrastructure Corporation and Investments visited the land recently meant for airport construction in Dagadarthi mandal. According to official sources, the proposed airport is to be constructed under Private Public Partnership mode. If the airport is completed, it is expected to carry around 20lakh peopleand 55,000 tons of cargo per year.

It may be recalled that the State government has sanctioned the airport at Dagadarthi mandal during TDP regime between 2014-2019. The Airport Authority India completed the feasibility study for 2,480 acres site in Damavaram village of Dagarthi mandal in 2015.

The SCL-Turbo Consortium Private Limited had signed the concession agreement with the State government in 2017 to develop international airport under Public- Private- Partnershipmode. However, the agreement was terminated in July 2020 for various reasons including change of the government.

Later,the previous YSRCP government had invited tenders from national and international companies to prepare a Detail Project Report for the establishment of airport at the same place, but it was also abruptly dropped. After a long wait, it was finally going to be materialised following CM Naidu’s assurance given during 2024 electioneering and the works are under progress on war footing.