Andhra Pradesh government inks concession agreement for Dagardarthi airport

The Andhra Pradesh government today signed a concession agreement with SCL-Turbo consortium for building a no-frills airport at Dagardarthi in Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore District in the public-private partnership mode.

The airport will be developed on 1,352 acres of land at a cost of Rs 368 crore and will have a capacity to handle 1.9 million passengers per annum and 55,000 tonnes of cargo when fully completed.

AP Airports Development Corporation Limited Managing Director M Venkateswarlu and Nellore International Airport Private Limited Managing Director V Umesh signed the agreement in the presence of state Principal Infrastructure Secretary Ajay Jain, an official release said.

NIAL is the special purpose vehicle formed for the development of airport at Dagadarthi, 25-km from Nellore town. "The new airport will be a catalyst for development of tourism and industry in SPS Nellore district. It will be a cargo export and import hub for the many industrial units in the district. Commercial operations are expected to commence in January 2020 from Dagadarthi," Jain said on the occasion.

The airport will have a runway length of 3150 metres to handle category 4E wide-body passenger and cargo aircraft, the Principal Secretary added. He expressed hope that the airport would also lead to new investments in the region and create job opportunities for several thousand youths. Development of airport at Dagadarthi had been hanging fire for over a decade now.

The then government of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy signed an agreement in 2007 with a Maharashtra government company for building the airport but the project did not take off. The Chandrababu Naidu government, under a new policy, decided to develop new airports in the state at Orvakallu in Kurnool district apart from Dagadarthi. Work on Orvakallu airport was currently underway.