Minister for Infrastructure Development M.B. Patil has said the construction of Hassan Airport will be completed by the financial year 2024-25. The airport is coming up on 536 acres of land at Boovanahalli, near Hassan City.
In the first phase of the project, 62.4% of the work has been completed, while in the second phase, 12.14% of the work has been done, said the Minister in response to a question raised by Hassan MLA Swaroop Prakash in the Legislative Assembly session at Belagavi on Wednesday.
The project has been taken up at an estimated cost of ₹193.65 crores, and so far ₹164.70 crore has been released. The work includes the construction of a compound wall, runway, apron, peripheral roads, terminal, ATC tower, hanger, fire brigade, water supply, and electrification, among others.
Karnataka State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KSIIDC) is implementing the work. Ibrahim Sharief, the contractor for Tirthahalli in Shivamogga, has bagged the construction work. The airport has been designed to accommodate ATR-72 flights, the Minister said.
The project has been pending for decades. Former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda laid the foundation stone for the work in 2007, when the JD-BJP coalition was in power. However, the work did not progress later, as the private company that bagged the work did not start the work on the ground. The government issued a fresh order in June 2021 for the project.