AP Cabinet decides to take back 500 acres land allotted for Bhogapuram airport near Vizag

The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet has decided to take back 500 acres, from the total 2700 acres of land, allotted for the construction of Bhogapuram airport near Vizag. The decision was taken at the cabinet meeting which was chaired by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday. While the much-awaited airport in the region will now be limited to 2200 acres, the remaining 500 acres will be taken over by the State Government as commercial space.

Speaking to the press after the cabinet meeting, Andhra Pradesh Information and Public Relations (I&PR) Minister Perni Nani said, “The same company, which was handed over the project by the previous government, will build the airport. However, the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government has decided to take back 500 acres of land from the total 2700 acres allotted for the construction of the Bhogapuram airport. We have spoken with the company in this regard and told them to construct the airport in 2200 acres. The remaining 500 acres will be taken over and considered as government property. Once the airport is completed, these 500 acres will gain commercial value. Even if we estimate an acre near Vizag at Rs 3 crore, the government is expected to save Rs 1500 crore of public wealth.”

In February 2019, GMR Airports Limited (GAL), which is a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure Limited, was handed over the responsibility of developing the greenfield airport at Bhogapuram after it emerged as the highest bidder. The project involves design, build, finance, construction, development, up-gradation, modernisation, operation and maintenance of the Bhogapuram airport for a period of 40 years.

Among other decisions, the cabinet also gave its nod for the development of a 10,000 megawatt (MW) mega solar power project in the state. The plant is aimed at providing nine-hour uninterrupted power supply to farmers.