KNI Airport – An Integral Part of India’s First Aerotropolis

The rise of an Aerotropolis in the state of West Bengal has accounted for a rapid development in the socio-economic conditions of West Bengal. The state has developed a lot since the time it has got India’s first Aerotropolis. It was about a year back, when BAPL waived flag towards the launch of country’s first Greenfield airport. The company had chosen a small town of Andal, which had an old abandoned airport. This airport was once used by the military forces during the Second World War. BAPL choose this old airport to convert it into a fully transformed one that would bear all the amenities of a modern aero-city. This newly developed airport was given it name as Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport (KNI Airport).

BAPL was formed in 2006. It took the company about nine years to materialise the project from its conceptual stages. The preliminary plan was to come up with a new airport using the old available resources, which ultimately helped the company cut down on the overall cost of developing this Aerotropolis. The Airport thus developed holds an area of 5752 square meters. It is able to handle both narrow body aircrafts and Boeing 737. The airport has a capacity to transit about one million passengers per year. It was the year 2007, when the Government of West Bengal re-structured the total project and geared steps to re-develop the airport on 650 acres of land. This re-planned airport also included development of an InfoTech park, an industrial park, a supporting township, and a logistics hub, all of which were done in a radius distance of 20 kilo meters from the town of Durgapur. This covered an area of over 1652 acres, with a total investment of Rs. 12,000 cores.

Mr. Partha Ghosh is the managing director of BAPL. After developing this airport, Mr. Partha Ghosh formed a Skycity which was further named as Sujalaam skycity. It has high rise towers that are spread over an area of 1616 sq. kilometres. The Sujalaam skycity is the one of its kind in the whole region. It serves as an Aerotropolis city. An Aerotropolis city is one which has its socio-economic growth dependant on the revenues generated by that Airport. The skycity has all the features that make it a great place to live at. It has got Colleges, Schools, Deemed Universities, Educational Institutions, Shopping Malls, Entertainment Centres, Food and Beverage Outlets, ATM Counters, Multi-Speciality Hospitals and many other things of Public Utilities. In short, the Aerotropolis as developed in the state is one of its kinds and also one in the whole country. 

Author’s bio: Mr Partha Ghosh is the one who heads BAPL. It was Mr Partha Ghosh’s dedications only that lead the Sujalaam skycity to reach great heights helping it to be a part of a modern Aerotropolis.