- India invites consultancy tenders for Great Nicobar International Airport project.
- Move follows tribunal backing environmental clearance for proposed airport.
- Airport planned as civilian and Indian Navy dual-use facility.
- Project aims to boost connectivity and strategic presence near Malacca Strait.
The proposed Great Nicobar International Airport in India has taken a significant step forward towards construction following the invitation of tenders to consultancy services by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), which is a major milestone in regards to an otherwise high-stakes project that has been regarded by numerous individuals as strategic as well as economical in regard to the country.
The tender process is seen as a result of a recent move by the National Green Tribunal to support the environmental clearance of the airport to eliminate a significant obstacle that has attracted the attention of environmental lobbying agencies and policy analysts. Management development also marked a new drive to the infrastructure project that was set to be implemented on Great Nicobar Island in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago.
Lying approximately 180 kilometres off the Sumatra island of Indonesia, Great Nicobar is strategically located beside the Malacca Strait that is one of the busiest routes of maritime trade in the world.
"Making the Andaman and Nicobar Islands a strategic and economic heart of Act East is not optional but essential for India's regional standing" -- DSRana of ORF
The airport will enhance the logistical and surveillance aspects of the region in the Indian Ocean as well as enhance the connection to one of the most distant regions of India.
Aviation and Development Plans in the Long Run
Project planning documentation issues related to the airport dated March 7 indicate that the airport has been planned on a long-term development horizon up to 2075. The master plan breaks down expansion into four stages which enable infrastructure capacity to be expanded over time as passengers traffic is on the rise.
Based on traffic estimates, the island population might grow to approximately 3.25 lakh by 2040 with the development gaining pace on the island. The passenger demand will be estimated at approximately 13.5 lakh travellers per annum by then.
Most of the flights to be made during the initial years of operation will be domestic. International services can be in a gradual manner because of the growth of tourism and business activities in the area.
The northsouth runway has been proponentially put forward to enable aircraftes landings and takeoffs to be majorly at sea level. The officials describe this design in order to minimise the interference with the surrounding residential buildings.
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The airport is located between Gandhi Nagar and Shastri Nagar in south of Great Nicobar that is located approximately 30 kilometres of Campbell Bay which is the current main settlement of the island.
Strategic and Military Aspects
The airport is also designed as a dual purpose facility where there is a convergence between civilian air transport and military aircraft operations. About 100 acres of land is used to set up Indian Navy infrastructure like aircraft hangars, operation and residential quarters of personnel.
In the envisaged structure of operation, airside operations and air traffic control within the Indian Navy will be handled, whereas passenger terminals and civilian aviation services will be handled by AAI.
Strategic experts believe that the site of the airport might aid Indian surveillance along prime shipping routes which transverses a great proportion of world commerce.
It might also have better infrastructure that would enable quicker deployment of naval and air assets on the eastern Indian Ocean which has become a more significant topic in the global security debate.
Connection and Economic Effect
The airport may change transportation and access to basic services to those living in Great Nicobar and other neighbouring islands. Today, the connectivity depends mostly on long sea pursuits or circumnavigation via Andaman Islands.
This new airport will result in a significant reduction in the time taken to travel and possibly an economic answer in the form of tourism, logistics and trade in the region.
The most prevalent fact about Great Nicobar is the thick forests at that place and why it is in a biosphere reserve.
"The tribunal's decision to uphold the environmental clearance does not end the debate it shifts it. Great Nicobar is a UNESCO-recognised biosphere reserve, and the long-term ecological cost of a dual-use airport on this scale has not been fully accounted for" -- The National Green Tribunal (NGT)
Nevertheless, as the environmental clearance is maintained, and the tendering process is going on, the island might soon start its journey toward playing an additional role of an aviation and development hub in the Indian Ocean region.
Infrastructure development and economic capacity building in the far-southern part of the Indian territory is one of the bigger plans involved in developing the airport project.
