No plan yet on 2nd airport in south Bengaluru: Karnataka minister M B Patil

Bengaluru: Even as Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar recently stated that the state government is considering establishing Bengaluru’s second airport in the southern part of the city, Industries Minister M B Patil has clarified that “no such thing is under consideration”.

Speaking to DH, Patil shared that all three shortlisted locations — two adjacent land parcels in Somanahalli and Chudahalli near Kanakapura Road, and one on Kunigal Road near Nelamangala — are currently being considered for locating the city’s second airport.

“The Dy CM just shared a personal opinion in the flow of things, but no such location is being favoured as of now. There is a long process that needs to be followed before the location is finalised,” he added.

To kickstart the process of finalising the location, the government will soon send out a tender calling for consultancy firms to look into the list of limitations shared by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) earlier this month. The AAI report has flagged terrain and airspace issues at all three locations.

“We will send out two tenders. The first will carry on from what we have learnt from the AAI report. We will hire a local consultancy firm to carry out our own feasibility and viability studies and look into all the permissions that are needed, and get into the nitty-gritty of passenger load and other things,” he said.

“This will be presented before the chief minister and the state Cabinet, who will then finalise the location. Post that, we will send out the second tender, which will be focused more on design,” he said.

The first tender is likely to go out in the next fortnight.

The AAI report has also pointed out all three locations, but purely from the civil engineering perspective. “But additional costs will be incurred for levelling the undulated terrain, which may significantly impact the overall budget.”

A source closely working on the project told DH that various private players, including the Adani Group, GMR, Tata, and the Bengaluru International Airport (BIAL), have evinced interest in bagging the tender.

“We want to attract these private players, which is why everything needs to be up to the mark. If we build the airport at a location where its operations are limited, no one will want it. Hence, thorough due diligence needs to be carried out before finalising the location. The government is not considering anyone’s personal interests,” added the source.