Telangana To Get Three New Airports At Adilabad, Nizamabad And Warangal, Centre Asks State Govt To Acquire Land

If the state government completes the land acquisition process, Telangana may soon get three new airports at Adilabad, Nizamabad and Warangal.

Union minister of tourism and culture G Kishan Reddy, who hails from the state, indicated that the union government is ready to extend its cooperation to set up three new airports if the state government expedites land acquisition.

In a letter to Chief Minister KCR, the union minister said that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had submitted feasibility reports for airports at Adilabad, Warangal and Nizamabad to the state government in June 2021 itself, reports Hindustan Times.

Currently, the international airport at Shamshabad on the outskirts of Hyderabad is Telangana's primary civil aviation facility. Demand for airports at Adilabad and Nizamabad has arisen due to their long distance from the state capital.

While both Adilabad and Warangal have airstrips, a greenfield airport was approved at Jakranpally in the Nizamabad district.

"At present, the existing airstrip at Warangal is in a bad condition and cannot be used for operating any kind of flights. I request the state government to remove all the hurdles and take up repairs to develop it into a functional airport to enable operation of private flights," he said.

Airports at Adilabad and Warangal will be developed at brownfield sites (existing), and Airport at Nizamabad will be a greenfield project.

For Nizamabad airport, 510 acres in the first phase and 235 acres in the second phase will be required at Jakranpally.

The union government led by PM Modi has given priority to the development of new airports.

The centre has already accorded 'in-principle' approval for setting up 21 Greenfield Airports across the country.

These 21 new airports are namely, Mopa in Goa, Navi Mumbai, Shirdi and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Hassan and Shivamogga in Karnataka, Dabra (Gwalior) in Madhya Pradesh, Kushinagar and Noida (Jewar) in Uttar Pradesh, Dholera and Hirasar (Rajkot) in Gujarat, Karaikal in Puducherry, Dagadarthi (Nellore), Bhogapuram and Orvakal (Kurnool) in Andhra Pradesh, Durgapur in West Bengal, Pakyong in Sikkim, Kannur in Kerala and Hollongi (Itanagar) in Arunachal Pradesh.

So far, eight Greenfield airports, namely Durgapur, Shirdi, Sindhudurg, Pakyong, Kannur, Kalaburagi, Orvakal and Kushinagar, have been operationalized.