Sangli city may get an airport in the near future as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) plans to build a runway at a nearby logistics park.
Nitin Gadkari, Union minister for road transport and highways (MoRTH), said, “NHAI has identified the land for a logistics centre at Ranjani near Sangli. We are laying a road to the logistic park that can be used as a runway. Aircraft can take off from this stretch and it would be used as a road when there are no flights.”
“NHAI’s decision would help to get an airport for Sangli city, one of the main centres in western Maharashtra. The region already has airport in Pune, Kolhapur, Solapur and Shirdi. After Pune, Shirdi is one of the busiest airports in the state.”
Under the Bharatmala project, 35 multi-modal logistics parks are planned in the country, including five in Maharashtra at Jalna, Nashik, Solapur, Sangli and Pune.
Gadkari is promoting logistic parks around highways as it will help to boost the country’s economy. He has appealed to state governments to allocate land for setting up the parks.
The Bharatmala project is a dedicated highways sector programme to optimise efficiency of freight and passenger movement across India and setting up requisite infrastructure. Implementation of the project and green highways will reduce logistics costs by 3% of the GDP, according to a government report.