Cabinet clears ₹9,814 cr projects for Kota-Bundi airport, Odisha ring road

Union Cabinet approves Rs 9,814 crore for new greenfield airport in Kota-Bundi and six-lane ring road connecting Cuttack and Bhubaneswar in Odisha, boosting infrastructure in Rajasthan and Odisha

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved two major infrastructure projects worth ₹9,814 crore, including the construction of a new green field airport at Rajasthan’s Kota-Bundi and a six-lane access-controlled ring road connecting Cuttack and Bhubaneswar in Odisha.

 

Union Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw said the new Kota-Bundi Airport will be built at a cost of ₹1,507 crore on Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) to meet long-standing demands from people in the region.

 

“From all across the country, students travel to Kota either by train or flight and for a very long time, there was a demand for a good and modern airport,” Vaishnaw said while announcing the Cabinet’s decision.

 

 

“Existing airport will continue to serve because it is right in the middle of the city, and the new airport will add the extra capacity,” he added.

 

The airport, to be funded through internal accruals of the Airports Authority of India, will have a 20,000 sq. metre terminal, a 3,200-metre runway, and is designed-to-handle two million passengers annually. The Rajasthan government will provide 1,089 acres of land free of cost, with work set to begin immediately. The project is targeted for completion within two years.

 

Vaishnaw highlighted the growth in India’s aviation sector since 2014, noting that the number of airports in the country has increased from 74 to 162, while air passengers have risen from 16.8 crore to 41.2 crore, a 2.5-fold jump.

 

The second project cleared is a 111-km six-lane ring road between Rameshwar and Tangi in Odisha, sanctioned with a budget of ₹8,307 crore. The project, which includes operation and maintenance costs, is expected to be completed in two and a half years.

 

Vaishnaw said that the project will ease congestion along National Highway 16, part of the Golden Quadrilateral connecting Kolkata and Chennai.

 

“Cuttack is an ancient city and Bhubaneswar was a new capital. Practically, this development project is a confluence of both cities,” he said. “There used to be heavy traffic there, leading to congestion. Hence, there was a long-standing demand for a ring road so that traffic flows smoothly.”

 

The projects form part of the government’s PM Gati Shakti Masterplan and the Purvodaya vision for eastern India.

 

Upon completion, the project will also generate approximately 74.43 lakh person-days of direct and 93.04 lakh person-days of indirect employment, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs said in a statement.