Haryana Finance Minister, Capt Abhimanyu on Friday said the State Government had approached the Centre for declaring the airport in Hisar under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) and hoped that it would be included in the next list of RCS Airports.
Capt Abhimanyu apprized this in a meeting with British High Commissioner to India, Dominic Asquith KCMG who called on him here. He said once the Hisar Airport was included under the RCS, the air ticket would be priced as low as Rs 2500.
During the meeting, Dominic Asquith evinced keen interest in investing in Haryana in the fields of agriculture, agro-food processing, cold chain, civil aviation and solid and liquid waste management. He said several leading companies of UK intend to invest in Haryana in big projects.
Capt Abhimanyu said Haryana had a huge potential for investment owing its locational advantage and close proximity to National Capital Delhi.
He informed that the State Government was pursuing an additional airport in Hisar, 150 kilometers from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, New Delhi. As the IGI Airport was expected to be at its full capacity by the year 2022, the Hisar airport would prove to be a big game changer in the time to come, he added.
The Minister said Hisar Airport which was to be set up on over 4,200 acres of Government land was a prestigious project of the State Government for which a budget of Rs 100 crore has been earmarked.
Talks are also on with the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation for developing Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) Facility for the Defence Aircraft. Also, various private players including the Pratt and Whitney are also keen in this project for setting up of civil MRO and servicing facility for the aircraft engines flying in this region, said Capt Abhimanyu.
Describing Haryana as a State with mature economy, he said that agriculture being the back-bone of the State, agro- food processing, fruit and vegetable marketing are among its focus areas.
The Minister said as the Government was focusing on tapping the 40 million population of National Capital Region to meet their needs of daily use food items like milk, vegetables and fruits, there is lot of potential in setting up food processing units in the industrial estates at Barhi and Rai, district Sonipat which is at close proximity to Delhi and have direct linkage with national capita through Kundali-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway.
The State Government was also committed to ensure that the farmers get reasonable price of their produce, added he.
Capt. Abhimanyu further said Global City was being set up in Gurugram over 1000 acres of land.
The Government was in the process of finalising the master plan of the Global City for which a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) has been formed with Government of India. Global City which is well connected with IGI Airport, New Delhi and other city centres of Delhi and Gurgaon would have IT and other Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES), projects of health care and other financial and value added entertainment services, said the Minister. He said that Haryana and UK could also work together in the field of Solid and liquid Waste Management.
The State Government has started a new project for the management of solid and liquid waste in Haryana, under which all the 80 Municipalities in the state have been divided into 15 clusters. The project involves door to door lifting of garbage, its processing and converting waste to energy. Tender for the same would soon be floated in this regard, he added. Among those present in the meeting included Managing Director, Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) Raja Sekhar Vundru, British Deputy High Commissioner in Chandigarh, Andrew Ayre , British High Commissioner Alam Bains and other senior officers of the State Government.