Andhra Pradesh to Construct New Airports Under the ‘One District – One Airport’ Concept

Andhra Pradesh plans to expand its aviation infrastructure under the ‘One District – One Airport’ concept. The state’s Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the Infrastructure and Investments Department to construct seven new airports under the proposed concept. The airports will have an identical infrastructure and handle wide-bodied aircraft, including Boeing aircraft. Andhra Pradesh has 13 districts in total and has commenced building another 12 districts. Currently, the state has airports in destinations such as Visakhapatnam, Rajamahendravaram, Vijayawada, Kadapa Tirupati and Kurnool. The Chief Minister’s Office has not revealed if the 12 upcoming districts will have airports.

Expansion of existing airports in Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh will further expand the existing airports, and the action plan with timeframe will be released soon. Expansion of Vijayawada airport will be taken forward on the priority given the growing traffic of the airport. The state has an airport planned at Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram district, and GMR Group has undertaken the project for development. However, the land acquisition issue has put the projects on hold. Another airport project was planned at Dagadarthi in SPS Nellore district, and the previous state government under minister Chandrababu Naidu awarded the contract for the project. However, the new government terminated this contract in July 2020, and no new builder was chosen instead. In the meeting held at Chief Minister’s camp office on Thursday, CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy asked officials to expedite the processes to complete Bhogapuram and Dagadarthi airports.

Andhra Pradesh government to construct new fishing harbours and ports 

Besides the airports in Andhra Pradesh, the government plans to expand and construct fishing harbours in the state. The CM has instructed officials to initiate the construction of nine fishing harbours and ports on a priority basis. Accordingly, the works at Bhavanapadu and Ramayapatnam ports will commence soon. The works of four fishing harbours among the nine proposed – at Uppada (East Godavari), Juvvalapalem (Nellore), Nizampatnam (Guntur) and Machilipatnam (Krishna) — are poised to be completed in the first phase. The works are slated to close by October 2022. The tenders for the remaining five harbours are invited and will be finalized soon. The works of the remaining five harbours will be treated as a second phase.