VP Baligar, Principal Secretary  of Infrastructure on Tuesday said, the land acquisition for the construction of new airports at Gulbarga, Bijapur and Shimoga was on fast track as the State Government was holding negotiations with the farmers to part with their land for facilitating the construction of the new airports.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Baligar said that around 200 additional acres of land would be shortly acquired for the proposed Gulbarga airport similarly at Bijapur and Shimoga around 500 acres of land had already been acquired, while 350 and 150 acres of land would be acquired shortly, he said.

While at the Hubli and Mysore airports, similar acquisitions would be carried out and land would be allotted to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) he said. “ In five years time, we would like to see that the Hubli Airport emerge an international airport. Keeping this in mind, we are planning  for  Shimoga Airport. Around 19 consortiums have expressed interest and very soon the Request For Proposal (RFP) would be sent,” he said.

On the new railway lines in the state, Mr Baligar said that various tracks including the Gadag-Solapur, Harihar-Kothur, Munirabad- Mehboobnagar was on fast track .

“Gadag-Solapur line will be completed by the 2008 and the Mysore-Bangalore doubling upto Bidadi would be completed in a months time,” he said.

Karnataka being a pioneer in Public-Private-Partnership model, various projects were undertaken with the Tourism Department. “ An International Convention Centre has been proposed near the upcoming International Airport in Devanahalli on a 34 acre plot,” he said.

Similarly, in the development of roads he said, that a P-P-P model has been adopted in developing the Sandur By-pass, Hospet By-pass, Bellary Ring Road and truck terminal in Hospet, he stated.