Proposed cargo hub in Nagpur gets shot in arm

The proposed cargo hub project here got a boost on Monday when the Maharashtra Airport Development Company and Airports Authority of India signed an MoU for promoting the International Cargo and Passenger Hub Airport at Nagpur.

According to the Maharashtra Information Centre, New Delhi, the MoU envisaged development of a Multi-model International Hub Airport (MIHAN), the first of its kind between Southeast Asia and Europe.

According to the MoU, the Nagpur airport will be handed over to a new joint venture company in which MADC and AAI will have 51 and 49 per cent equity respectively.

The airport will be jointly developed by the JV and all the existing employees of the AAI will be absorbed in the new company, according to Umeshchandra Sarangi, principal secretary to the chief minister.

Meanwhile, a two-member team from Singapore's Changi Airport International paid a visit to the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Nagpur Airport on an invitation from MADC.

The team was here on a familiarisation trip to check up on the present traffic that the airport handles and work out the potential after the proposed cargo hub project comes up. "They came here as they wanted to see where Nagpur was located, what kind of infrastructure it had and what was the airport like," a senior AAI officer revealed. The team also visited the site of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) which is being developed by MADC.

The visit, a sort of touching base for the international agency, would help it conclude whether the project was worthwhile for them, said MADC staffers. For MADC, the agency is the first to visit the airport after L&T Rambol drew up the project report for the cargo hub and also detailed requirements for the airport.

The MADC would eventually work out tender formalities and list its requirements. If Changi Airport International finds that it fits the bill it could respond to the global tender.

Changi Airport International is a Singapore-based company which specialises in airport development and its management.

It offers an array of services ranging from consultancy, designing and construction of an airport to its actual running.

The company evinced interest in offering consultancy for the development of the Nagpur airport recently when MADC officials along with chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh visited Singapore for a road show.