Maharashtra PWD Minister Chhagan Bhujbal has directed the officials to complete the construction work of the terminus at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) airport near here before Diwali this year.
The terminus is being developed as an alternative to reduce heavy load at Mumbai international airport.
Bhujbal, who is also the Guardian Minister of Nashik, yesterday visited the site to supervise construction work of the terminus at Ojhar airport near here, owned by HAL.
The fully air-conditioned terminus having a height of 13.5 metre and a carpet area of 8,713 sq ft, when completed will have a capacity of 300 passengers, PWD's Nashik division chief engineer Nagnath Jalkote and superintending engineer P Y Deshmukh informed Bhujbal.
Maharashtra government and HAL had earlier signed an agreement to set up the terminus at a cost of Rs 70 crore, considering Nashik's commercial and industrial importance.
The airport will be a convenient option for tourists, businessmen and HAL's cargo project for export of agricultural produce, a government release issued here said.
Bhujbal also urged various airlines to park their aircraft at Ojhar airport for night halt instead of Ahmedabad, as is being done presently.
NCP MP from Nashik and Bhujbal's nephew Sameer bhujbal informed the minister that he has been pursuing the matter with the concerned departments to initiate the MRO (maintenance, repairs and overhaul) project for aircraft at Ojhar.
District Collector Vilas Patil, top PWD officials and MLC Jayant Jadhav were also present on the occasion.
