Rajkot Greenfield International Airport (IATA: RAJ, ICAO: VAHS) is an international airport and a greenfield airport currently under construction at Hirasar, Gujarat, India,[3] which will serve the city of Rajkot and the Saurashtra region. It is being constructed near the National Highway 8B (NH-8B) connecting Ahmedabad and Rajkot. It is planned as a single runway airport for the operation of ‘C’ category aircraft.[4]

Rajkot Greenfield International Airport
IATA: RAJ ICAO: VAHS
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Airports Authority of India
Serves	Rajkot and Saurashtra
Location	Hirasar
Opened	April 2023 (expected)[1]
Coordinates	22°23′17″N 71°01′42″E
Maps
RAJ Location in Gujarat Show map of Gujarat RAJ RAJ (India) Show map of India
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 05/23[2] 9,974 3,040 Asphalt

The airport is being developed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) at a cost of ₹2,654 crore (US$330 million).[5]

History

The site clearance approval for the airport was granted by the Government of India in May 2017. Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over the groundbreaking ceremony held on 7 October 2017. The Union ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate change (MoEF) accorded environmental clearance (EC) to the project on 10 October 2017.[6]

Land acquisition issues delayed the tendering process by a few months.[7] Afcons, Dilip Buildcon, Gayatri Projects, Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Infrastructure were among the bidders for the Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) tender floated by AAI. The financial bids were opened on 9 August 2018 and Dilip Buildcon emerged as the lowest bidder. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its approval for the project on 28 February 2019.[8] Subsequently, in March 2019, Reliance Infrastructure was awarded the EPC contract worth ₹648 crore (US$81 million) to construct the airport. The construction is to be completed within 30 months.[9] The contract also requires the contractor to provide operation and maintenance services for a period of two years following the commissioning of the project.[4] The Central Government had initially sanctioned ₹1,405 crore (US$180 million) for the project,[10] but revised the amount in June 2019 to ₹2,654 crore (US$330 million).[5] [11]

Infrastructure

The airport will be capable of handling Airbus A380, Boeing 747 and Boeing 777[12] [13] type of wide body aircraft and will have a rainwater harvesting system, solar power system and a green belt along its periphery to act as a noise barrier.

The airport, measuring 2,534 acres (10.25 km²), will be situated 36 km from the existing Rajkot Airport, whose capacity is constrained and cannot be expanded because of commercial development around it.

References