Civil Aviation Ministry says Rourkela Airport upgradation work to be completed by October 2022, locals apprehensive

Recently, Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia, Minister of Civil Aviation, Govt. of India, in his reply letter regarding ‘revival/upgradation’ of Rourkela Airport to Shri Subrat Tarai, Member, Odisha Legislative Assembly, Odisha has assured that the ongoing work of the airport is scheduled to get completed by October 2022. The letter also mentions that Alliance Air has been awarded the Rourkela-Bhubaneswar route under UDAN 3.0 scheme.

Expansion Plans

With an eye on the Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023, the upgradation work – construction of a new apron and taxiway – of the Rourkela Airport is underway with an objective to make operations for ATR 72 type of aircraft possible. Additionally, the existing terminal has been planned to be upgraded, to accommodate up to 200 persons.

An estimate budget of 8 crore 16 lakhs has been sanctioned for apron and taxiway construction, while the budget for the terminal building has been capped at 60 crores. It is to be noted that Rourkela Steel Plant, which owns the Rourkela Airport, has been quite prompt in providing land for the entire expansion process.

Locals Apprehensive about Completion Claims

However, people of Rourkela are quite apprehensive about the claims made by the esteemed Union Minister in the letter. Speaking to our reporter, Shri Bimal Bisi, a prominent social worker from the city, said that the upgradation work of the Rourkela Airport has been quite disappointing so far.

He said that the taxiway work is not even 50 percent complete, while tendering for the expansion of the terminal building has not been done yet. Same is the case for tendering of the runaway strengthening and procurement of Instrumental Landing System.

It is to be noted that the complete upgradation work was scheduled to be completed by March 2022. Already, the completion time has been postponed by seven months. It would be interesting to see whether Airports Authority of India (AAI) will speed up the completion of the project to meet the October 2022 deadline.