Land for parallel taxiway at Bajpe Airport notified

The Hindu
MANGALORE June 11: The Government has issued a notification for acquiring 56.46 acres of non-agriculture land at Malavoor village near Bajpe (Mangalore) Airport to build a parallel taxiway at the airport by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
The taxiway is the passage in which aircraft move from the runway to the apron (parking area).
M. Maheshwar Rao, Deputy Commissioner, issued the notification on May 20, 2008 under an emergency clause. According to this, non-agriculture lands belonging 20 persons are to be acquired for the purpose.
When contacted Sameer Shukla, Assistant Commissioner, Mangalore Sub-Division, told The Hindu that valuation of property notified will be done by the departments concerned. "We will pass the award as soon as we receive the valuation reports," he said.
"As far as I know there are no habitations in the land proposed for acquisition. Hence, acquisition will not be a problem. But it will be known only after conducting valuation of the property notified," he said. The land will be handed over to the AAI once the process is completed. The AAI will have to fill up a valley there with soil to take up works on the parallel taxiway, he said.
M.R. Vasudeva, director, Mangalore Airport, said that the parallel taxiway proposed to be built will have a length of 583 metres and a width of 38 metres. It will connect the runway with the apron (parking bay) of the new terminal building which is under construction at Kenjar near the airport.
The parallel taxiway is needed in addition to the one connecting the new terminal building.
When there is a parallel taxiway, aircraft can leave the parking bay quickly and the aircraft that lands on the runway can arrive there without delay. This will avoid waiting time of aircraft and enhance the efficiency of the airport, he said.
The number of aircraft movements at the airport went up from 6,268 in 2006-07 to 10,019 in 2007-08. The passenger movement increased from 4.71 lakh passengers to 7.13 passengers during the period, Mr. Vasudeva said