Mysuru: Land acquisition to expand the runway at the Mysuru Airport in Mandakalli will finally begin, eight years after the proposal was first made back in 2012. Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha informed that an agreement was reached in 2012 to acquire 114 acres of land out of the 240 acres required for the expansion.
He was speaking at the Airport Advisory Committee (AAC) meeting on Tuesday, which was held to discuss the developmental works needed to be carried out at the airport.
At the time of the agreement, the compensation was fixed at Rs 40 lakh per acre, but the market value of the land was revised and the value was fixed at Rs 1.05 crore per acre for the roadside land and Rs 1.04 crore per acre for land on the interior. The land owners are yet to be compensated.
A total of 170 crores is required to acquire the additional land and the Karnataka Government is likely to release Rs 50 crore in the first phase in the next five days, the MP added. Once the money is released, runway expansion and airport expansion works will be taken up, he added.
Presently, the airport has a single runway that is 5,700 ft in length and is suitable on for short-haul flight operations. The plan is to expand the runway’s length to 7,900 ft and 45 m in width.
Additionally, the airport expansion plans are proposed to increase flight traffic to and from the airport and provide connectivity to cities like Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, as well as New Delhi.
KSRTC buses between the airport and Mysuru city will begin operations by the end of the month and the committee proposed the redevelopment of the bus station and include more routes between the airport and other parts of the city.
According to the members of the committee, flights from Mumbai and New Delhi to Mysuru would lead to an increase in foreign investments in the city.
