5 months ago
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Following the State government’s announcement to redevelop the unused airstrip astatine Kovilpatti for establishing a Flying Training Organisation (FTO), the project’s nodal agency, Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), has invited funny firms to taxable proposals for the improvement of the FTO.
Submissions of proposals is unfastened until January 6, 2026.
Tamil Nadu has implicit 15 airstrips, immoderate of which are presently unused including the 1 astatine Kovilpatti successful Thoothukudi district. In a bid to redevelop the airstrip astatine Kovilpatti, the State authorities has initiated the task done TIDCO. At present, the State has lone 1 dedicated FTO astatine Salem airport, which began its operations successful 2023, officials told The Hindu connected Sunday.
The airstrip successful Kovilpatti was built by Lakshmi Mills for backstage usage connected 63 acres of onshore leased from the Tamil Nadu authorities astatine Thonugal and Nalatinpudur villages. However, the airstrip has been unused for implicit 20 years.
To facilitate the redevelopment, TIDCO had invited online tenders for the task successful 2023. In November 2025, it has invited for submission of proposals. The task has been planned connected a Design, Build, Operate, Finance and Transfer (DBFOT) ground for a play of 31 years.
The tract country of the planned FTO successful Kovilpatti spans astir 95 acres. The runway astatine the tract is 1.05 km agelong and 15 metres wide. The existing runway is asphalt topped, but it has go unusable owed to upwind conditions. In its RFP (Request for Proposal) document, TIDCO has noted that the airstrip tin accommodate 10 trainer airplanes.
The constitution of FTO successful Kovilpatti is wide expected to boost concern improvement successful the region.
R. Edwin Samuel, erstwhile president of CII, Thoothukudi, said the constitution of FTO successful Kovilpatti would assistance make the locality, providing nonstop and indirect employment opportunities.
