Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is making hectic efforts to realize his decade-long dream of having an airport in Kuppam and is determined to make it operational by 2027. By overcoming various obstacles though he had earlier laid foundation stone in 2019, the project was later shelved by YS Jaganmohan Reddy government.
He has been promising to build an airport every time he visits Kuppam since before the 2024 elections. As soon as the NDA government came to power and TDP leader Ramamona Naidu became civil aviation minister the proposal started getting momentum.
Although a committee was formed in the early days for land acquisition, there has been no progress for 3 months. In 2014, the then TDP government had planned to build an airstrip in the Ramakuppam- Santipuram mandals. That same year, Rs. 20 crore was allocated for land acquisition. Out of this, Rs. 16.34 crore was paid as compensation to the farmers who were losing their lands.
The officials have prepared proposals to build an airport on 483 acres at a cost of Rs 100 crore. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has also given a positive report. The government has also approved it. With this, CM Chandrababu laid the foundation stone for an airstrip at Ramapuram in Shantipuram mandal on January 3, 2019. But, later Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy informed the Center the proposal was withdrawn.
Earlier, 594 acres were acquired in Ramakuppam and Shantipuram mandals for the construction of an airstrip. Presently, 290 acres of this is expected to be suitable for setting up an airport. The remaining land will be allocated for industries. In addition, revenue officials are ready to acquire up to another 910 acres. A total of 1,200 acres will be acquired for the airport.
The target is to complete this process within 4 months. The repair and maintenance of the aircraft will also be done locally. If the land acquisition is done quickly, the rest of the work will start immediately.
On the other hand, there has been a proposal to set up an airstrip in Sri City in the past. Tirupati Collector Venkateswar mentioned this issue in the recent collectors’ conference. Sri City sources say that if the airstrip comes, cargo transportation will be possible. At present, no survey is being done on this. There is a possibility of taking steps towards land acquisition in a year or two.
