Bokaro Steel City will soon to be on the aviation map of the country. Chief Minister Raghubar Das laid the foundation stone for the development of Bokaro airport at Bokaro Steel City on Saturday along with Minister of State Jayant Sinha.
Under the Government of India’s flagship scheme UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) Bokaro is going to be connected with Kolkata and Patna through RCS (Regional Connectivity Scheme), said Das.
Bokaro Airport covering a land area of 195 acres belongs to SAIl, Bokaro Steel Plant. MoU has been signed between Airport Authority of India (AAI) and SAIl to develop for Code — 3C under RCS-UDAN-II with is at an estimated cost of Rs 52.57 crore. “The State Government will pay 20 per cent of the total expenditures,” added Das.
The development work includes resurfacing and strengthening of existing runways of length 1673 meters and width 30 metres, apron, taxi track, including grading of the operational area, along with the provision of expendable low-cost terminal building, control tower, ESS building, watch tower and installation of PAPI and other miscellaneous civil and electrical works.
With a long runway of 1673 metres, the airport will be able for the operation of ATR-72 types of aircraft. Its terminal building will be built in an area of 3520 square meters with peak hour capacity 100 passengers, six check-in counters and two arrival carrousels (belt) with a parking capacity of 20 cars.
In addition, under the Government of India’s regional connectivity scheme (RCS) — UDAN, more airports of Jharkhand like Deoghar, Dhalbhumgarh and Dumka are likely to be connected with air network, resulting in the economic development of the State, the CM said.
The city is scheduled to be connected from Kolkata and Patna airports from December 25 this year, under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS). After getting the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) node only services of 72-seater passenger aircraft can only be started form Bokaro airstrip now, said a source.
The ceremony took place in the presence of Union minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha where locals MPs and MlAs, higher-ups of the State Government, district administration and BSl higher authorities were also present.
