Mundra SEZ: Leveraging airport, seaport advantage

Virendra Pandit

Travelling time to Mundra has come down by 3 hours

Mundra (Gujarat), Feb. 4

With the commissioning of an aerodrome on January 30, the Adani
Group-promoted Mundra Special Economic Zone (SEZ) becomes the first SEZ
in the country to have both a seaport as well as an airport within it.

The company said that the aerodrome is self-contained and has facilities
for navigation, fire control, ambulance, etc.

The airport has a 1,900-m-long airstrip and can handle executive jets
with ease.

With the commissioning of this airport, the travelling time to Mundra
has come down by three hours, as commuters are not required to travel by
road from either Bhuj or Kandla, which are located nearly 60 km from the
SEZ.

The Mundra aerodrome became fully functional on January 30 for landing
and take-off of executive jets.

The company is evaluating the possibilities of creating world-class
greens in the aerodrome area, which can be used to establish a golf
course with 12 holes at a future date.

Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone Ltd was created last year by
integrating two of Adani Group's infrastructure projects - Gujarat Adani
Port Ltd and the Mundra SEZ Ltd - to leverage expertise acquired in
logistics management.

The new entity is developing and managing the largest privately
developed port in the country and a multi-sector SEZ spread over 100 sq
km in Kutch district.

The port has been operational since 1998 and cargo volumes are
anticipated to touch 50 million tonnes by 2010 from the current level of
18 million tonnes.

The SEZ is envisaged as a multi-sector, multi-modal one and is
benchmarked with the best such zones in the world.

Its logistical advantage is the rail, road, sea and air connectivity and
the operational convenience afforded by the combination of a port and an
SEZ, a company release said.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/02/05/stories/2007020503121500.htm