In a bid to position Haryana as the country's leading aerospace and defence manufacturing hub, the Manohar Lal Khattar Government will soon roll out its aerospace and defence policy which proposes infrastructure augmentation, setting up of aerospace defence parks, development of freight and air cargo facilities among other initiatives.
The policy aims at attracting an investment of at least one billion USD (Rs 7400 crore) in next five years in the aerospace and defence sector besides generating direct and indirect employment opportunities to around 30000 persons in the state.
The State Government, working on finalizing the aerospace and defence (A&D) policy is focusing on seven key aspects including infrastructure augmentation, fiscal incentives to reduce cost of business, human capital development, strengthening connectivity, development of MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) facilities, easy availability of land at affordable prices and development of MSMEs willing to shift to A&D sector.
“For infrastructure augmentation, development of integrated aviation hub at Hisar, heli-hub in Gurugram, development of Karnal domestic airport, extension of runway length at Bhiwani, enhancement in operational capability of airstrip and conduct of aero sports activities at Narnaul, development of heliport at Pinjore among other places is on the cards in Haryana,” said a senior official of the State Government while talking to The Pioneer.
The official said that the government has planned to facilitate development of cold storage chains and facilities to handle perishable goods, durables, and non-perishable commodities at the State airports, as per demand and also explore the possibilities for developing a cargo hub at newly planned airports. Under the policy, state of the art infrastructure for A&D sector will be developed by facilitating development of private sector led aerospace and defence parks in the state.
Apart from this, fiscal incentives like SGST reimbursement, employment generation subsidy, reimbursement of stamp duty, electricity duty exemption, land concession, freight subsidy will be offered for certain years for mega projects under A & D sector. For human resources development, the government has proposed to introduce aerospace specific content in ITIs and Polytechnics and offer research and innovation scholarship for students, the official said
Several rounds of meetings have been held with concerned Departments and stakeholders to take suggestions for chalking out this policy. The State Government is planning to roll out the policy soon, the official added.
Among other key features of the policy include identification of land at the four minor airstrips by the State Government to impart aviation related activities including manufacturing and assembly of smaller aircraft, part MRO and workshops for rotables, small scale flying training organisations, RPAS (drone) assembly manufacturing research and training (at Narnaul and Karnal, aero adventure or aero sports activities and sub-base parking of helicopters and smaller aircrafts in the state.
Notably, the State Government is currently developing an integrated aviation hub at Hisar, wherein 7200 acres of land have been earmarked for this purpose. It is proposed to set up a world class MRO as part of Hisar aviation hub and this will be a state-of-the-art facility which will provide full aircraft base maintenance services and also cater to the maintenance needs of regional and global airline customers.