To strengthen the aviation sector in Gujarat, the state government has planned to set up the country's first-ever Aviation Park in Ahmedabad having a slew of facilities including an airstrip, training school, helipad and space for setting up small manufacturing units among others.
According to officials of government-owned Gujarat State Aviation Infrastructure Company Ltd (Gujsail), this integrated park aims to raise the awareness about the potential of the aviation sector among students, professionals, policy makers and business entities.
Gujsail, which is given the task by the government to carry out the project, has recently identified a piece of land near Bagodara village, about 30 km from Ahmedabad.
According to Gujsail CEO Captain Ajay Chauhan, the main aim of this Aviation Park is to raise awareness about the aviation sector among investors, students and people at large.
It will also provide a platform for manufacturing activities and human resources related to the sector, he said.
"This will be a first ever Aviation Park in India. There are hardly 3 or 4 such parks in the world. We have identified 60 hectares of land near Bagodara. Now, we will conduct a feasibility study of that location and hoping to finalise that location after government approval by the end of this financial year," said Chauhan.
Giving details about the entire project, Chauhan, who is also the Director of Civil Aviation, stated that the Aviation Park will serve as a one-stop destination in the avenues of aerospace training, research, recreation and manufacturing.
"We want to create a complete eco-system where everything related to aviation sector gets available under one roof. In the initial phase, this park will provide platform for educating people about the aviation activities. Apart from a theatre and an info-tech area, the park will also have space for conducting air-shows and other aviation related adventure sports," said Chauhan.
For professionals, the park will have a training complex having flight simulator, an aviation and aerospace management school, an aircrew training school, a helipad and a landing strip for smaller aircraft, said Chauhan.
"We have planned various activities here including training and licensing of staff. This park will also be involved with aspects of air operation regulations, safety, security, environmental concerns, research and development, aviation-related policies etc," Chauhan said.
According to him, the first phase of the park may get operational by the end of next financial year of 2016-17.
In the second phase of development, the focus will be on attracting national and international industrial houses to set up their manufacturing facilities in this park, he said.
"This Aviation Park can create direct and indirect employment for highly-skilled resources in the area of aerospace and avionics. In the later stages, this park will have small manufacturing units to produce spare parts for aircraft. We are planning to develop this park on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model," he added.
