Let me admit. Before writing this post I didn’t know the term exists. Well, as of now, to my understanding, ‘aerotropolis’ still does not exist in the dictionary. But it does have a page to it in Wikipedia. Here is what I get to know from there:
An aerotropolis (pl. aerotropolises or aerotropoli) is a new type of urban form comprising aviation-intensive businesses and related enterprises extending up to 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) outward from major airports.
Ananda Bazaar Patrika in its Dec 20 edition has given a Bengali name to the term – bimannagari. The news was occasioned by the announcement of a proposed bimannagari at Durgapur.
The aerotropolis will come up on a land mass of 2300 acres. The cost: Rs.10,000 crore. A company by the name Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Limited has been floated, of which the partners are 3 private companies and the 2 government agencies, Asansol Durgapur Development Authority (ADDA) and WBIDC.
If it shapes up, it’ll be the country’s first aerotropolis. What will be there?
An airport of course, but besides there will be, what else but, an IT park, an aircraft repairing facility, a flight training school, lots of leisure centers including a golf course (none so far outside Kolkata in the state), not to speak of malls, plazas, plexes and all the modern-day pleasures of city life.
The crux of the entire planning is none other than the land that has to be acquired. Money is waiting to pour in. In fact Bengal has crossed that threshold beyond which there is no dearth of money today at least in infrastructure projects.
Kolkata has long been the only worthwhile city in Bengal. Looks like that is going to change not long from now.
Among the 15 most notable aerotropolises, existing or under development, listed by Wikipedia, here are the pics of 2 recent ones in Asia [top: Beijing Capital International Airport; bottom: Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok].
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that’s a good news that WB is going to have its first aerotropolis in india. But it may not be much useful as the kolkata airport is already in full swing.