Prime Minister Narendra Modi today presided over the groundbreaking ceremony for a greenfield airport here to be developed by Airports Authority of India by 2021.
The proposed site for the airport at Hirasar, measuring 2,534 acres, will be developed at a cost of Rs 1,405 crores. The airport will be located near the National Highway (NH-8B) connecting Ahmedabad and Rajkot. It will be situated 27 km from the existing airport at Rajkot, which is capacity constrained and cannot be expanded because of commercial development around it, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The airport will have a rainwater harvesting system, solar power system and a green belt along its periphery to act as a noise barrier. The site clearance approval for the airport was granted by the Centre in May.
While addressing those gathered for the bhoomi-pujan ceremony, Prime Minister Modi said 96 per cent of the land used for the airport was barren land belonging to the state government.
The new hub will handle the A-320 aircraft type. It will be capable of handling both domestic and international operations, the statement added.
The Rajkot airport sees around 100 movements per week and handled over 4 lakh passengers in 2016-17.
