Rs 319 crore released for expanding Mysuru airport runway

Mysuru: The state government has released Rs. 319.13 crore for expansion of Mysuru airport runway. The Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai announced the expansion project during state budget recently. The Airport is located at Mandakalli on the outskirts of the city and is spread over 490 acres. The land will be acquired by the State Government and it will be handed over to the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

The expanded runway where planes like Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 can land, a full-fledged 10-lane Economic Corridor between Mysuru and Bengaluru and Container Corporation of India's (CONCOR) Multi-Modal Logistics Park at Kadakola are expected to be a game-changer for the region. It will build economic and industrial activities and also give a boost to tourism and education.

At present, only ATR-72 type planes can land at Mysore Airport that has a length of 1,740 metres and a breadth of 30 metres. To facilitate the landing of bigger planes, the runway must be expanded to 2,750 metres and its breadth has to extend up to 45 metres. Over 240 acres of additional land is required for the expansion.

The final notification has been issued for land acquisition with respect to 160.5 acres. In all, 206 acres and 22.5 gunta land has to be acquired. Preliminary notification will be issued for acquiring the remaining land and the State cabinet has fixed compensation at the rate of Rs. 1.5 crore per acre.

Initially, the AAI had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) for land acquisition.

Now, the Cabinet has made the Karnataka State Small Industries Development Corporation (KSSIDC) Limited as the nodal agency that will oversee the transfer of land to AAI and also the expansion works.

The runway expansion project was mooted over 10 years ago and of the 240 acres of land required for the project, the KIADB had given the final notification for acquisition of 160 acres.

But as per the rates and the demand from landowners, each acre had to be paid acompensation of Rs. 1.5 crore.