‘Fast track resurfacing work at Vizag Airport’
GVL’s plea to Centre; Airport is planned to be closed for night operations from Nov 15 to April 1, severely affecting businesses and passengers
BJP Rajya Sabha member GVL Narasimha Rao on Friday met both Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane and informed them that the runway at Visakhapatnam International Airport under the control of Indian Navy is planned to be closed for night operations between 9 pm to 8 am from November 15 to April 1 due to the proposed runway resurfacing work activities.
Stating that the closure of airport runway for a long duration of 4.5 months will severely affect business operations and cause inconvenience to passengers due to the cancelation of several flights during the runway closing hours, he sought the intervention of the Defence Minister and Defence Secretary to reduce the period of resurfacing works by adopting modern methods and techniques.
Informing the Defence Minister and Secretary that similar resurfacing works in Hyderabad and Pune Airports were completed in a much shorter duration of less than one month by using modern methods and technology, the MP requested both of them that the resurfacing work in Visakhapatnam also should be completed in a much shorter duration than the proposed 4.5 months.
“Military Engineering Services (MES) has completed the resurfacing of a portion of the runway at the Pune Airport in record time of 14 days, whereas earlier the same work had taken 28-35 days and this helped the flight operations to resume early,” he stated in a letter to the Defence Minister.
Mentioning about the early completion of resurfacing works in Hyderabad Airport, he added, “Rajiv Gandhi International Airport operator, GIAL, Hyderabad has completed the first phase of refurbishment of its runway in just 15 days as compared to the normal time-frame of three months. The use of new Airport Grade Steel Guard (AGSG) technology to apply a special protective coat to the runway designed to preserve, and extend the life of existing asphalt pavement surfaces, made the super quick time possible.”
The BJP leader also requested the Defence Minister and Defence Secretary that the time of closure of the airport runway for the resurfacing works may be revised to 11 pm to 6 am to ensure minimal disturbance to the flight schedules.
After the meeting, GVL stated that both the Defence Minister and Defence Secretary were very responsive and promised to have the matter examined for early completion of resurfacing works in Visakhapatnam. GVL expressed hope that their intervention will result in a positive outcome and reduce inconvenience to both passengers and businesses.
