Dagardarthi Airport Concession Agreement Signed

The concession agreement for the construction of “no-frills” airport to be built at Dagardarthi Sri Potti Sriramulu, in Nellore District, was signed yesterday. The agreement was signed in the presence of state Principal Infrastructure Secretary Ajay Jain, by AP Airports Development Corporation Limited Managing Director M. Venkateswarlu and Nellore International Airport Private Limited Managing Director V. Umesh, which would see a public-private partnership between the SCL-Turbo Consortium and the government of Andhra Pradesh to carry this project forward to its ultimate realization.

The airport will have a planned capacity of 55,000 tonnes of cargo and approximately cater to 1.9 million visitors every year, and bears a price tag of 368 crore rupees. The allocated area for this airport is 1,352 acres of land. With an expected runway length of 3150 metres, it will cater to category 4E wide-body passenger and cargo aircraft, according to the Principal Infrastructure Secretary. He added that the strategic location of this airport in this part of the state will help it to become a hub of cargo exports that would be beneficial to the industrial units in the area. He indicated that this airport was expected to be operational in 2020.

Interest in this airport began with the government headed by the late Y.S. Rajasekhra Reddy back in 2007, but was unable to pick up the necessary impetus needed to see any further progress on the development of this airport. Putting the more than decade long delay behind them, it was expected that this airport will also bring about new employment opportunities to the youth of the region.