18 yrs on, AAI gets land for airport runway expansion

Amit Khajuria

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Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 5

The much-awaited project of runway expansion at the Jammu airport is all set to start as the Defence Ministry has finally handed over land to the Airports Authority of India after 18 years of its allotment.

The Jammu airport has only 6,700-feet-long runway, which forces the aircraft to use emergency brakes at the time of landing in the winter capital of the state. The emergency brakes not only give a jerk to the passengers travelling in the aircraft but also pose a serious threat of a mishap.

The airports authority has now allotted the work to two contractors of the state for the expansion of the runway up to 8,000 feet. The work was delayed due to technicalities of land-acquisition process, which took a long spell of 18 years.

Around 17 acres was allotted to the airport authority for the expansion of the runway at the Jammu airport in 2000, which was under the possession of the Army till now. The file was pending with the Defence Ministry since February 2017.

“The land has been finally handed over to the airport authority and as we had already allocated the work to two contractors, they have taken over the site. Work will start by next week,” said DK Goutam, Director, Airports Authority of India, Jammu.

“The project is expected to complete in 24 months which will cost Rs 50 crore,” Goutam added.

The project is divided into two parts, one is runway and another is the boundary wall. The contract of runway has been given to TR Gupta Construction Company of Jammu and the boundary wall will be constructed by Bakhtawar and Sons of Srinagar.

Expansion up to 8,000 feet  

The Jammu airport has only 6,700-feet-long runway, which forces the aircraft to use emergency brakes at the time of landing in the winter capital of the state. The emergency brakes not only give a jerk to the passengers travelling in the aircraft but also pose a serious threat of a mishap. The airports authority has now allotted the work to two contractors of the state for the expansion of the runway up to 8,000 feet.