Calcutta, Sept. 7: An airport and a 2,300-acre township will be built in Andal near Durgapur.

“It will be a composite township surrounding the airport, complete with flats, malls, an IT park, hospitals and educational institutions, multiplexes and food courts,” chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said today, standing next to civil aviation minister Praful Patel.

The township will also have an aircraft maintenance centre and a flying school.

The Rs 10,000-crore project, Aerotropolis, is a joint venture between Pragati Social Infrastructure Company, the Asansol-Durgapur Development Authority (Adda), the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation and Hudco.

The partners made a joint presentation before Patel and the chief minister today.

An abandoned airstrip dating back to World War II at Tamla village, about 200km from Calcutta, will be modernised and turned into the runway.

The company will buy land directly from owners. “Most of the 2,300 acres earmarked for the project lies 2km from collieries and is not fertile,” Asansol MP and Adda chairman Bansagopal Chowdhury said.

The airstrip, he said, was 18km from Asansol and 10km from Durgapur.

Cooch Behar flights

The Cooch Behar airport will be ready for operations by end-September.

Air Deccan would initially operate flights between Calcutta and Cooch Behar, followed by Air India.