New International Airport to come up at Visakhapatnam

Hyderabad, Feb 16 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister K Rosaiah today said the state government has selected a site to set up an international airport at Visakhapatnam, and upgrading of other airports in 2008-09.

Presenting 2008-09 budget in the Assembly, Mr Rosaiah said the airports at Rajahmundry, Vijayawada, Warangal and Kadapa would be upgraded during this year.

Around Rs 60 crore has been earmarked for all these airports in the present budget, he said, adding that the government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Airport Authority of India (AAI) in this regard.

To provide better aviation services in the state, Aviation Corporation was established under the Public sector with an outlay of Rs 55 crore.

He further said Rs 65.24 crore was earmarked for the ports development in 2008-09 budget estimates. Gangavaram port would be developed near Visakhapatnam, which is expected to be operational by this year and estimated to handle a cargo capacity of 35 million metric tonnes.

Efforts are also being made to operationalise Krishnapatnam port by July this year, he added.

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