Sudhir Mungantiwar, minister of finance and planning for the Maharashtra government, has unveiled plans to develop 21 small airports in the state of Maharashtra, west India.
The works will take place over the next four years as part of the ‘Make in Maharashtra’ campaign to improve business relations in the region, according to a report by The Economic Times.
One of the major elements of the campaign will be to extend the runways of airports in Akola, Yavatmal, Amravati, Dhule, Kolhapur, Ratnagiri and Juhu in Mumbai so that they have at least 1,500m (4,921ft) of runway.
Mungantiwar said, “To boost our ‘Make In Maharashtra’ project, we have decided to connect industrial cities and district headquarters with air services. To achieve our target, airstrips at some small airports would be required to be extended in order to ensure at least small aircraft can land there.
“Though Juhu is an important airport, it cannot be used as an alternative to Mumbai Airport, since it has an airstrip of merely 113m (370ft) due to which only nine-seater aircraft can use it.
“Chandrapur has a 953m (3,126ft) airstrip, but since the height of Chandrapur Thermal Power Project’s chimney is 272m (892ft), there are limitations in developing it and hence a new airport will be constructed near the city.”
To read more from the report by The Economic Times click here.