KNI Airport - India’s Very First Greenfield Airport

Airports have always been a medium for transit of passengers and goods throughout centuries. Till last decade, the airports around the world were meant to deal with passengers and cargo movers only. But the recent development around a new concept has given rise to the commercialisation of airports as business hubs. This concept is nothing but what they call it as Aerotropolis. 

Aerotropolis is an airport city where the airport uses the revenue it generates in the socio-economic developments of the region. In India, BAPL developed one such Aerotropolis in the state of West Bengal last year. They worked upon two parallel projects that were combined to form the first Aerotropolis city of India. Firstly, they started developing the airport itself and along with it they introduced a skycity nearby.

It was an old military airbase that was used during the First World War by the US army, which the company BAPL used in developing the commercial airport model. In order to cut costs, they used this old abandoned airport and thus the company gained profits in its initial stages only, by saving money using this old airport as primary resources. It was an appreciable approach of Mr. Partha Ghosh who is the Managing Director of BAPL. They built the airport on a 600 acres plot and the cost of developing it crossed above Rupees six hundred fifty crores. The airport holds food and beverage outlets, shopping centres etc.  Within its premises and has many other facilities that make it an ultra-modern airport.

The second biggest success that BAPL achieved was the development of a skycity. Mr. Partha Ghosh indeed was the key person in this whole project and he was the one to have introduced the Sujalaam skycity – a huge residential township – in an area nearby to the airport. It was built in the city of Durgapur, also called a steel city and which is a great industrial zone. This residential complex has all the amenities of a smart city. BAPL developed schools, colleges, Universities, high rise apartments, swimming pool, gymnasium, shopping malls, entertainment centres, educational hubs, Information technology hubs etc. which all together made this newly built city a better place to live in. BAPL gave Durgapur city its new life. Other than these, Sujalaam skycity also offers investment opportunities for new business growth. The project offers – world class infrastructure, quick and easy approvals, connectivity, and ready to use land – as resources for new business ventures.

Author’s bio: Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Limited is a famous infrastructure company identifying and developing the Aerotropolis projects in India. With an aim towards re-shaping the aviation industry for the 21st Century, Mr. Partha Ghosh from BAPL gave India its first private Greenfield airport. Not only this, Mr. Partha Ghosh also introduced the smart-city concept with the launch of Sujalaam skycity.