Lack of Transport Infra to Reach Upcoming Bhogapuram Airport a Bottleneck

 Vijayawada: As the Bhogapuram International Airport in Vizianagaram district undergoes the first trail run on January 4, lack of adequate transport infrastructure is a cause of concern among air passengers.

The existing Visakhapatnam International Airport sees arrival and departure of nearly 10,000 passengers, both domestic and international.

The proposed development of transport infrastructure, like construction of 12 flyovers connecting Visakhapatnam to Bhogapuram Airport, master plan roads, coastal corridor connectivity and metro rail, have remained on paper for the past five years due to varied reasons.

Movement of people from tech majors, like TCS, upcoming Cognizant, Google Data Centre and others, will add to the existing number of air passengers to and from Vizag.

Road transport authorities maintain that on an average around 6,000 vehicles, including four / three and two wheelers are getting added every month in the Steel City.

In such a scenario, lack of adequate transportation facilities from Visakhapatnam to Bhogapuram Airport is expected to cause severe traffic snarls, especially during the peak hours.

It is expected that it will cost ₹2,000 per cab to take passengers from Visakhapatnam to Bhogapuram Airport. As it is mandatory to reach the airport at least an hour before the scheduled departure of the flight, air passengers have to start several hours ahead of their journey from their home or office to reach the airport.

During normal times, the air fare to Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bengaluru and Chennai ranges from ₹3,000 to ₹4,000 per head. To reach Bhogapuram Airport, an additional cab fare of ₹2,000 will need to be paid, which will add to the financial burden on air passengers.

In such a scenario, air passengers are raising apprehensions over troubles they will have to face with regard to road connectivity, time and additional financial burden once the upcoming Bhogapuram Airport is commissioned.

In view of this, AP Air Travellers Association (APATA) has appealed to both the central and state governments to continue flights from the existing Visakhapatnam International Airport as well as the upcoming Bhogapuram Airport, so that air passengers need not face any trouble. They refer to how Goa is operating two airports – Dabolim Airport in South Goa and the new Manohar International Airport in North Goa.

APATA secretary O. Naresh Kumar said, “We welcome the development of Bhogapuram Airport. While Visakhapantam has a US $48 billion economy, Goa is just one-third at US $16 billion. Why can’t we have both Visakhapatnam and Bhogapuram airports operating independently,” he asked

According to him, Bhogapuram Airport is more comfortable only for people from Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and some parts of Visakhapatnam. Once Visakhapatnam Airport closes after Bhogapuram Airport comes up, it will cause disturbance to thousands of employees working in pharma city and other industrial areas, including Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. They will have to reach Bhogapuram Airport by travelling over 60–70 kilometres.

In this regard, APATA secretary has appealed to the government to expedite development of the public transport infra to Bhogapuram.