Airports Authority of India prepared to develop the Bhogapuram airport

As per the Minister of State of Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is ready to develop the proposed Greenfield Bhogapuram airport. The Minister said this is response to the ‘unstarred question’ raised by YSRCP‘s Vijaysai Reddy.

Earlier, the government of Andhra Pradesh had cancelled the entire tender process for the Bhogapuram airport project. It is a known fact that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) was deemed to handle the proposed Bhogapuram Aerotropolis project in Vizianagaram district last year. GMR was the other contender for the project. Principal Secretary (Energy, Infrastructure, and Investment) Ajay Jain had cited the expansion the expansion of the project as the only reason for the cancellation of the bids.

However, the AAI has exuded interest in the construction of the airport in fresh bids. As per the fresh tender guidelines, the successful bidder can’t be mandated to develop the aviation academy and Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) at the site.

The airport project at Bhogapuram was proposed a few years ago. The airport, which was slated to come up at a distance of 40 km from Visakhapatnam, intended at equipping the city with a civilian airport. The current airport in the city belongs to the Indian Navy.