Calcutta, July 28: The Bengal government has launched an initiative to set up an airport exclusively for cargo aircraft using an abandoned army airstrip in Bankura.

The facility will come up on 1,400 acres at Basudebpur, where the army airstrip now lies in disuse, a state transport department official said.

“I have discussed the matter with defence minister Pranab Mukherjee, who has agreed (to the project) in principle. The proposal, along with the land requirement, has already been sent to the defence ministry, transport minister Subhas Chakraborty told The Telegraph today.

“The chief minister also spoke to Mukherjee and obtained his consent. I shall hold discussions with the defence minister and senior army officials on August 4 and expect to get the green signal,’’ Chakraborty said.

The approval of the defence authorities is essential as the land is under their possession. “The Basudebpur airstrip was used by the army many years ago. It is lying abandoned for over two decades. As the Centre need not provide any funds and as the place is not used by the army, we believe there will be no problem getting the formal approval,” Chakraborty said.

According to transport officials, the project cost has been estimated at Rs 15,000 crore. The minister said: “A group of NRIs has expressed willingness to implement it by forming a consortium, taking full investment liabilities and technical assistance from Detroit Air Cargo Terminal Corporation, which built the cargo airport in Detroit.”

Initially, Rs 5,000 crore will be pumped in for the first phase. The private partners, the transport minister said, would recover their investment from aircraft fees.

The Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation will work as the nodal agency for the project.

The Detroit Corporation has prepared a draft project report and engineers from the transport department are examining it in association with airport experts. It has also been sent to Delhi.

The NRI team made a video presentation on the project before senior state government officials last month. According to the draft proposal, there will be provision for landing at least five cargo aircraft everyday. At Calcutta airport, 10 to 15 cargo aircraft land in a day.

Officials felt that the cargo traffic load will be split once the new terminal takes off. “The load is gradually increasing in the east. Cargo aircraft from Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, South-east Asia and Russia will benefit from the new airport.”

A team of officials finalised Basudebpur after visiting army airstrips at Cooch Behar, Durgapur and Rampurhat.