Intl airport to come up in Vizag district

• Panchayat Raj Minister Ayyanna Patrudu says land has been identified at Achutapuram and Bheemili mandals
• Objections over the project Achutapuram raised by Navy

Hyderabad: AP government is moving fast to establish a Greenfield international airport in coastal Andhra. The government identified two suitable places for the big airport in Visakhapatnam district.

Around 1,500 acres of land has been identified each in Achutapuram and Bheemili mandals for taking up the airport, Minister for Panchayat Raj CH Ayyanna Patrudu said in informal interaction with the media at the Assembly on Monday.

Following a huge demand from domestic and international investors, he said the government had speeded up the process to set up the airport. Most of the industrialists had shown keen to make investments in Visakhapatnam as it was upgraded into one of the mega IT hub in the new State.

The managements of the mult-national companies (MNCs) appealed to the government to develop direct air connectivity to the coastal city from other parts of the world, so that business potential can be promoted in a big way, the Minister said.

He said the government was holding talks with Defence Ministry to get clearance to set up the airport at Achutapuram. The Naval wing raised objections to the proposal for security reasons. If the proposal was rejected, the government would build the airport at Bheemili where vast tracts of lands had already been identified.

Agricultural lands were also required to be acquired for the airport and the government would have to pay compensation to the affected farmers, said Ayyanna Patrudu.

To promote Visakhapatnam as hub of film production, the Minister said as much as 1,200 acres was also identified to set up a film city. A notification would be issued soon, inviting the interested firms to set up their production units in the film city.