The state government of Haryana is developing the existing airstrip at Hisar airport into a Global Integrated Aviation Hub (IAH) in an effort to boost domestic manufacturing and growth across industries. The IAH is in line with the Government of India’s goal to strengthen Haryana’s position as an aviation leader in the country. The state offers a conducive ecosystem for the development of the aerospace and defence sector, and the government is planning to establish an all-encompassing ecosystem that focuses on manufacturing, maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO), cargo activities, flight training, research and development, and more.
Captain Rajesh Pratap Singh member joint working group has been associated with this project since 2017. “And this entire economic development in the state of Haryana with the development of five airports, policy legislation, and majority of the conceptualisation has been handed over to me by honourable CM and by the government,” he tells Financial Express Online.
According to him the state would provide an ideal platform and opportunity to grow businesses, which would bring economic and social prosperity to the region and create job opportunities for local inhabitants.
Captain Rajesh Pratap Singh shares the benefits of investing in Haryana and shares details about the project.
Following are excerpts
What is this Integrated Aviation Hub (IAH)?
This mega project of government of Haryana, was conceived around six seven years back and over a period of time the traction is picked up, it is going to be mega airport or Aerotropolis project with approximately 7200 acres of land and it will have a twin runway system we are going ahead and constructing the first runway which is 10,000 feet and which should be able to handle all large planes. Essentially the thought and the concept behind this had started off with many of these foreign countries or big cities that we go to which are supported by multiple airports on different accesses. Essentially, like for example, you may have a large airport and be supported by a satellite airport on the Eastern and Western axis. So, when we looked at NCR in the future growth with respect to the Government of India and Government of Haryana’s plans, there was a possibility of creating one airport around Hisar which would be on the Western axis. This airport comprises a huge industrial and manufacturing cluster with NICDC which was earlier DMIC. And this IMC essentially handles aerospace defence, food processing, textiles and other associated and allied industries and future connections which will develop along with the aviation setup. It’s a process and a project with long gestation and it’s moving robustly. In fact, the runway is already 80 percent complete and we are hopeful that we will start operationalization of different facilities and stages
What kind of companies or investments are you expecting? Do you think you will be able to attract international players in this area?
In my view, one of the issues with large commercial areas, especially in metros, is a high price of everything from land cost and everything. So, if we have a Plan B or satellite airport, which is coming up initially, I feel that they would be a maturing point which may take five to eight years. But over a period of time, we look at the concept of DFW in Dallas, or probably Paris or Charles de Gaulle development, which happened in the 90s and 2000. We feel that in the next 10 to 15 years, there is a positive scope of growth and a very positive trajectory to attract all these people to add further, we are also in discussion with USTDA with respect to a lot of sectoral and other studies, which puts the project in very good hands as and it provides the Asia Pacific platform and will also add value to the development.
As far as the MRO facilities are concerned – do you think this facility will attract global players?
Obviously, when we look at Aerotropolis, we look at the entire segment and everything is interconnected. So, can that be a focus area? Obviously, that is a focus area over a period of time. The synergies and economy of you know, basically economies will develop and it will make it cheaper for you to operate or work somewhere.
How do you compare this project with other Industrial corridors in UP and Tamil Nadu?
Now, each corridor in its old geographical and local aspirations would be unique. One of the common facts is that it will generate a whole lot of employment in all segments. For the IAH concept, a whole lot of effort is going into skill development and sustainability. In fact, there is a huge activity that we have taken up to grow secondary and tertiary food processing, agriculture, in animal husbandry, in genetics, and in tech. So essentially, in the long run, what will matter is the amount of need or amount of energy and work that a state puts in for sustainability. All these corridors will have a positive trajectory. And there’s going to be a multi trillion-dollar economy and will provide all facets of development. So, to answer your question as in what is unique, I guess the point unique is that it has a big corridor on the western axis, which has not been supported.
Any special incentives that you’re offering to the companies will come in and invest?
We are offering a whole lot of instruments, incentives, which are largely in our defined in our aerospace and defence policy, which has come out in last year, and it will offer everything as in Best of market, we are very flexible with the macro companies who are looking into mega investments, and those will be handled by the government of Haryana in that suitable manner.