Manipal Group plans to set up private airport at Manipal

The Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG), which has diverse interests in education, research and healthcare, is developing a private greenfield airport-cum-IT special economic zone (SEZ) in the Udupi district. The company has already acquired 800 acres for the project at Sasthan, about 20 km north of Manipal. The airport is likely to cost an estimated Rs 50 crore.

According to Ramdas M Pai, chairman, MEMG, said, “We have had an informal talk with Union civil aviation minister Praful Patel and expressed our interest to develop the private airport. The minister has agreed to extend necessary technical assistance from Airports Authority of India (AAI). The proposed airport will be funded by financial institutions and developed by Manipal Group while the AAI will carry out the day to day operations for us.”

The new airport will have bare minimum facilities like a 5,500-ft long runway to accommodate even bigger aircraft like Boeing and Airbus in the future, air traffic control tower, terminal building, apart from other necessary infrastructure. A formal proposal will be submitted to the government after preparing the detailed project report, he said.

Manipal Group proposes to raise funds from financial institutions to develop the airport. “We were assured of finance by IDFC a few months ago, and in the backdrop of recent global financial meltdown, we may have to approach them again with a fresh proposal. We are exploring possibilities of raising finance from other banks as well,” Ramdas Pai told Business Standard.

The group proposes to develop a SEZ for information technology companies at the same venue and it has invited several big IT companies, he said.

“We need a separate airport in the Udupi district as it is home to a number of educational institutions and pilgrimage centres. Nearly 30-40 per cent of the 7,25,000-strong passenger traffic at the nearest airport Mangalore comes from Udupi, Kundapur and Bhatkal areas. It is over 90 km away and is not convenient for tourists, international students and faculty at Manipal University,” Pai said.

The new airport will benefit the local population as nearly 14,000 students from 50 countries study at the Manipal University campus in Manipal. Udupi, the temple town, attracts lakhs of pilgrims every year. The nearby tourist places like Kollur, Murudeshwar and Maravanthe witness a large number of tourists every year.

Pai said the airport will be developed on the model of Cochin International Airport which was funded through private finance and managed by the AAI. Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways have agreed to connect Manipal with Bangalore and Mumbai on a daily basis once the airport is ready, he said.