Maharashtra receives clearance from defence ministry for preparing report on proposed airport near Pune

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has received clearance from the Ministry of Defence for preparing a detailed project report of the proposed international airport near Pune city, a state revenue official has said. German company Dorsch is preparing the detailed project report (DPR) and will also develop the new airport at Purandar in Pune district, he said. [caption id=“attachment_4323803” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Pune airport. Image courtesy: aera.gov.in[/caption] “The work was slow as necessary permissions from the defence ministry were pending. The permissions have been received a couple of days back and now the company can complete its DPR,” the official said. “The primary estimated cost of the airport is Rs 14,000 crore. Once the report is completed, we will come to know the actual cost,” he said. According to Pune district collector Saurabh Rao, the land acquisition cost for the airport will be as high as Rs 2,000 crore. The German company, which had prepared the DPR and developed airports in cities like Berlin, Munich, Kuwait and Frankfurt, had been given the contract for the Pune project in March last year. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced the new airport project, to be named after Chhatrapati Sambhaji Raje, in October 2016. The airport, which is expected to take around five years to complete, will be spread across an area of 2,400 hectares. The acquisition of land will take place in seven villages of Purandare tehsil.