Mysore-Nanjangud road expansion hits a roadblock

Eight-km stretch of the road to be diverted for airport development

A diversion to the Mysore-Nanjangud road, in order to accommodate the expansion of runway at Mysore Airport, Mandakalli, was proposed at a meeting of Airport Authority at a meeting held here on Monday. This has raised concerns about the four laning works of the National Highway, which has been moving at a snails pace for years.

The long pending demand to upgrade the airport to international standards, requires extending the runway by an additional kilometre. The current runway of 1.8 kilometres does not allow wide body aircrafts, such as Boeing and Airbus to land, said C Manjunath, Director of the airport.

Therefore, Deputy Commissioner Ramegowda has suggested withholding the expansion of the highway in an eight kilometre stretch, passing in front of the aircraft. He said that National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) will be asked to re-align the National Highway in the stretch, by making a loop from APMC to Kadakola.

Manjunath said that in case the expansion works of the airport is completed, then the existing stretch of the road, near the airport will have to be closed. A proposal had been sent earlier too about re-aligning the road to NHAI, he said.

Acquiring land for the expansion of the airport was also discussed. Ramegowda said that three proposals were pending with Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) to acquire a total of 342 acres of land around the airport.

He said that acquiring land has been a ‘bottleneck’ for the expansion project of the airport.

Funds ready

Manjunath said that if the required land is acquired by KIADB, funds to the tune of Rs 150 crores were available with the Mandakalli Airport authorities for expansion works.

Among the other issues discussed in the meeting held at DC office, was the menace of wild boars near the airport and garbage disposal at the airport.

Garbage disposal at the airport was earlier done on a contract basis. Now, DC has requested the Mysore City Corporation to take care of garbage disposal, Manjunath said.