Bengaluru’s second airport to come up in south of city: CM Shivakumar

Bengaluru, Jul 8 (PTI) Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Wednesday said the city's second airport, planned to decongest Kempegowda International Airport, will come up in South Bengaluru. He said officials have been asked to submit a proposal to the central government after considering a location where land cost is low, which is technically feasible, and not too hilly. The CM chaired a meeting with Minister for Infrastructure Development M B Patil and top officials regarding the second airport near Bengaluru. "Regarding the airport, we discussed what happened in the past. We asked to ensure that no villages are disturbed and villagers should not be displaced," Shivakumar told reporters after the meeting. "We asked officials to submit a proposal to the central government after considering a location where the land cost is low, which is technically feasible, and not too hilly," he added. The CM said no specific site had been named yet, but it would be in the South, as were the previously proposed sites. "We asked them to look for a location where land prices are low, so it doesn't burden the state government, and where no villages need to be displaced. A few scattered houses are not an issue, as they can be compensated, but villages should not be shifted for the project," he added. In the state budget presented in March, then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had said that to decongest Kempegowda International Airport, which has emerged as the country's third-largest airport, a second airport would be developed in Bengaluru, for which a feasibility report would be prepared after obtaining technical advice from the Airports Authority of India. AAI officials have already visited the three sites that were earlier shortlisted for Bengaluru's second international airport. The state government had shortlisted three locations: two on Kanakapura Road near Harohalli (South Bengaluru) and one on Kunigal Road in Nelamangala (to the west of the city). PTI KSU SSK