Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Year-End-Review of the Ministry of Civil Aviation for the year 2010

http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=68689


New Terminal Buildings have been commissioned at Varanasi, Barapani (Shillong), Madurai, Mysore and Ahmedabad airports.Existing terminal buildings have been upgraded/ modernized at Pune, airport. Runways/ Taxiways have been extended / expanded at Varanasi, Ranchi, Guwahati, Bhopal, Gondia, Ludhiana, Cuddappah and Coimbatore airports. Upto November 2010 progress of work for modernization and development at Chennai and Kolkata Airports has been 66% and 46%.Work on the construction of new Greenfield Airports at Pakyong in Sikkim is in progress.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Tamil Nadu committed to Chennai greenfield airport: Stalin

Even as the opposition grows over a greenfield airport near here, the Tamil Nadu government Thursday reiterated its commitment to developing the project.

Delivering the valedictory address at Connect 2010, Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said: 'The government of Tamil Nadu is taking all out efforts to bring in a greenfield airport, aerospace park, financial city, sports city, outer ring road, elevated highway, metro rail to Chennai so as to make it a world class city, a destination of growth and development.'


The 10th edition of Connect 2010 - a information and communication technology (ICT) event - was jointly organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and the Tamil Nadu and Central government.


Citing Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi's efforts in retaining the tax concessions given to IT companies in special economic zones (SEZ) that were sought to be removed under the Direct Tax Code, he urged these software units to speed up their projects.


Citing a study, Stalin said India has emerged as the fastest growing and the fourth largest IT market in Asia Pacific region.


'Recent McKinsey study revealed that it will be many years before China poses a threat to India in IT,' Stalin added.


He said the state has over 1,700 software and IT enabled services units and out of the 29 notified IT special economic zones (SEZ) in Tamil Nadu 19 are already functional generating a direct employment for around 46,000 persons.


Earlier CII's southern region chairman and Infosys Technologies CEO and managing director S. Gopalakrishnan said his company is planning to set up a third centre here.


He said the IT companies have started in a small way outsourcing some of the activities to units located in tier-2 cities.


According to him, 40 percent of the new IT jobs created are in metros and entrepreneurship will be the primary driver for growth of tier-2 cities.

http://sify.com/finance/tamil-nadu-committed-to-chennai-greenfield-airport-stalin-news-default-kjjxEchbgja.html

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Madras Flying Club to face bulldozers soon

Madras Flying Club to face bulldozers soon

CHENNAI: The Madras Flying Club (MFC) is expected to be demolished, as the Chennai Airport needs the land for expansion of the taxitrack that runs parallel to the main runway.

MFC currently occupies about 1,600 sq m land leased to them by the airport authority. The lease reportedly expired in 1997 and the MFC sought its renewal. However, as part of the airport expansion works that is under way, the taxitrack needs to be corrected and expanded near the portion where the MFC building and its hangar are located. “The taxitrack B has a bend near the MFC end, which comes too close to the runway. To expand and straighten that, almost 50% of the MFC property has to be demolished. Moreover, as flight movements have increased, MFC is not being allowed to do any flying in Chennai. They have been offering flying lessons from Vellore for the last two-three years anyway,” an airport source said.

The demolition is expected to happen once the taxitrack parallel to secondary runway is ready. After this expansion, taxitrack B will connect to the starting of the secondary runway.

The MFC, now in its 81st year of existence, has many firsts to its credit, apart from being one of the oldest landmarks of aviation in India. At one point of time, it was one of the few clubs that trained personnel in Air Force as well. At present, MFC hangars are being used to park the State owned helicopter and aircraft Cessna Citation-V5.

Protest against greenfield airport politically motivated, says CM

Protest against greenfield airport politically motivated, says CM

CHENNAI: Chief minister M Karunanidhi on Wednesday charged that agitations announced by the AIADMK and PMK against land acquisition for the proposed greenfield airport at Sriperumbudur was "politically motivated". "Their intention is to prevent the DMK government from taking credit for implementing such mega projects," he charged.

In a rejoinder to the two parties, he said the agitation was totally unwarranted as no particular site had been identified so far. Only soil testing work was going on at present, he noted. Officials had taken soil samples from 64 places spread across 4,200 acres so far. Soil samples were taken from Tirumangalam, Molachur, Sokandi, Mampakkam, Sriperumbudur, Kilai, Sirukilai, Vadamangalam and Padichery in Sriperumbudur taluk and Kottaiyur, Vadalur, Thiruppanthiyur in Tiruvallur taluk. Land acquisition work had not yet started.

His government's intention was not to snatch the houses and agricultural fields of common people, he said. If any land had to be acquired, the government would provide adequate compensation, he said and added that at a recent meeting of official convened by chief secretary K S Sripathi, it was communicated to the Airports Authority of India that only the minimum required land for the airport project should be acquired.

Responding to PMK founder S Ramadoss' suggestion to shift the project to an alternative site, Karunanidhi said Ramadoss was aware that the government had narrowed in on the present site after considering a lot of other options. Any other site would have led to massive dislocation of human habitations, he claimed.

The present airport was bursting at the seams owing to congestion caused by increasing air traffic, Karunanidhi said and noted that the Centre was going ahead with plans to expand existing airports or set up greenfield airports in all major cities. Neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka had completed work on new airports. "Here alone, people are keen on spiking the airport project," he lamented and added that a big airport was any growing city's necessity and if such projects were opposed, it would affect the state's economic growth.

It was at a meeting of various legislature party leaders on May 22, 2007 that it was decided to set up a greenfield airport on 4,821 acres in Sriperumbudur and Tiruvallur taluks even as expansion of the present airport in Chennai is underway. D Jayakumar of AIADMK and GK Mani of PMK attended that meeting. It was resolved to ask the Airports Authority of India to take up the work on its own. The state government had not taken this decision unilaterally, he said.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Protest-against-greenfield-airport-politically-motivated-says-CM/articleshow/6333301.cms

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Sriperumbudur: Jaya opposes land acquisition

CHENNAI: AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa Friday opposed acquisition of land belonging to people in Sriperumbudur area for a greenfield airport, saying it would threaten their livelihood.

"The government has decided to acquire 6,921 acres for greenfield airport at Sriperumbudur belt. The acquisition process of farm lands in the villages are going at a fast pace," she said, according to a statement issued here.

People living in 20 villages will be losing their houses as well as their farm lands thereby putting their livelihood into question, she said, adding the education of several school children will be affected and religious places will also be demolished.

The AIADMK chief also strongly condemned the police action on farmers going in procession to submit a petition to the district collector against the land acquisition.

http://expressbuzz.com/states/tamilnadu/sriperumbudur-jaya-opposes-land-acquisition/197894.html

Jaya opposes land acquisition for airport at Sriperumbudur

Chennai: AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa on Friday opposed acquisition of land belonging to people in Sriperumbudur area for a greenfield airport, saying it would threaten their livelihood.
'The government has decided to acquire 6,921 acres for greenfield airport at Sriperumbudur belt. The acquisition process of farm lands in the villages are going at a fast pace,' she said, according to a statement issued here.

People living in 20 villages will be losing their houses as well as their farm lands thereby putting their livelihood into question, she said, adding the education of several school children will be affected and religious places will also be demolished.

The AIADMK chief also strongly condemned the police action on farmers going in procession to submit a petition to the district collector against the land acquisition.

http://sify.com/news/jaya-opposes-land-acquisition-for-airport-at-sriperumbudur-news-national-kinu4bfgiae.html



Sunday, March 7, 2010

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Sriperumbudur airport may not take off

Sriperumbudur airport may not take off:


CHENNAI: The much-expected second airport at Sriperumbudur may not take off as both the Centre and the state government are preparing to shelve the project. Even as the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has undertaken a techno-economic feasibility study of the project, a senior official in the Union civil aviation ministry said that the government is convinced that there is no urgent need for a second airport in the city, as the existing airport at Meenambakkam is being expanded.

The Airport Authority of India (AAI) is spending Rs 3,800 crore on the expansion works including construction of a new terminal and laying of a secondary runway, which are expected to be completed by April 2011. Confirming the development, sources in the state government pointed out that many major cities across the world were operating with one airport and the present air traffic in the city could not justify a second airport. As per the condition for setting up the second airport, the state government has to acquire about 5,000 acres of land and hand it over to the AAI free of cost.

"It may entail expenditure between Rs 2,500 and Rs 5,000 crore which the state government may not be ready to shell out," the sources added. The officials also argued that if private operators had to be brought in, the existing airport should be closed down as in the case of Bangalore and Hyderabad. Having spent more than Rs 3,000 crore on the expansion works of the present airport, it would not be a prudent move to close it down, they said.

The existing Chennai airport handles about 350 aircraft movements a day, which will go up to 450 a day once the expansion works are completed. "This should be sufficient to handle the growing demands for up to 2015," said a AAI official. Moreover, it would not be possible to keep two airports operational, given the traffic projections; and the additional expenditure on a mass rapid rail link between the two airports could not be justified, the officials added.

The proximity of the two airports has also gone against the proposed airport at Sriperumbudur. While internationally accepted norms say that there should be a minimum distance of 150 nautical miles between two airports, the two in Chennai are hardly 20 nautical miles apart.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Sriperumbudur-airport-may-not-take-off/articleshow/5622087.cms

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Times of India 07-Feb-2010

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/Skins/TOI/navigator.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true

AAI chief sore over defence land issue

AAI chief sore over defence land issue

CHENNAI: Even as rest of the Chennai Airport sees a facelift, the issue of the defence land in which a part of the terminal expansion plan is based, remains unsettled for more than six months now.

Airports Authority of India’s chairman V P Agrawal who was in the city on Saturday showed exasperation as he revealed that the issue of defence land takeover remained unresolved. “I just want to tell them t don’t block my project. We’ve created infrastructure for them and still they refuse to budge from their stand. They (defence people) have already demonstrated that they are a stronger force. I accept that they are the big boss but why stop my work (airport expansion project)?

AAI had entered the defence property next to the international terminal in February 2009 for putting up structures there. The defence authorities had earlier agreed to the AAI proposal to construct a new communication building for the defence with signal transmitters in return for the existing structure at Pallavaram. While AAI kept its part of the deal and finished the work by May 2009, defence personnel stopped construction on the site.

“The home minister has spoken to the defence minister and the latter agreed. Even the state chief minister has taken up the matter but nothing has happened so far. I have given them ten times more than what they are giving us for expansion but they want the moon,’’ Agrawal said.


http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=AAI+chief+sore+over+defence+land+issue&artid=dsIc18WJ/5E=&SectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&MainSectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&SEO=&SectionName=rSY%7C6QYp3kQ=