PTI

Bangalore, May 9: The Bangalore International Airport will commence trial operations in January 2008 and start commercial operations on April two next, Karnataka government said on Tuesday May 8.

"The civil works of the airport are ahead of schedule at least by seven months and will be completed by this December," Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa told reporters after reviewing progress of various infrastructure projects.

Certain bottlenecks that have cropped up in construction of a separate connecting road to the project would be solved, Yediyurappa said.

A farmer has secured a stay from the state High Court, challenging acquisition of his land for the road project.
A total of 19 bidders have evinced interest to develop airports in Shimoga, Bijapur and Gulbarga, where the government proposed to operationalise airports within one year.

However in Hassan, the home district of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, Public Works Department would implement the airport project, he said.

Kumaraswamy's brother H D Revanna is the PWD Minister.

Yediyurapa said the long-cherished dream of the state to utilise the Bidar defence airport for civilian operations has been realised following the defence ministry accepting the proposal.

The government is acquiring 100 acres of land for expanding the Bidar airport, he said.