Dholera Airport Work to take of in Q3 of FY 16

The work on much awaited international airport at Dholera, a major transport link for the industries coming up in the 920 sq km Dholera special investment region (SIR), is likely to begin in the third quarter of 2015-16.

The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has approached Union ministry for environment and forests (MoEF) for final environmental clearance. The public hearing for the proposed airport, some 20 kms from the port town of Dholera in the Gulf of Cambay, was completed in April with no major objections raised by the local villagers.

The airport was the dream project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was the chief minister of Gujarat. It is being touted as the second international airport in Gujarat, about 100-km from state's financial hub Ahmedabad.

The state government has formed Dholera International Airport Company Ltd (DIACL) as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for development of the airport. "The airport will be developed alongside the activation area of the SIR spread in 22-km radius. The development of the SIR and the airport complement each other," said Amit Chavda, managing director, (DIACL).

"We have completed all formalities from our side and sought environment clearance from the centre. Since there were no major objection to the project we hope to get clearance soon," he added.

The airport will come up on 1,426 hectares of land near village Navagam in Dholera block. DIACL has also applied for in-principle approval from the ministry of civil aviation for the airport project supported by Japan International Cooperation Agency.

The airport also assumes significance as it will come up in Dholera SIR (DSIR) which is node in Gujarat for the proposed Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) between Delhi and Mumbai covering a total length of 1,483-km and passing through six states.

DSIR is being developed by Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Limited (DMICDC).