The second runway of the José María Córdova airport is landing but, for now, there are only more ideas than something concrete because there are still no designs and the purchase of land would be the Achilles’ heel.
However, he is already walking. People have been talking about the project since at least 2016 and now in January of this year it started with the establishment of a technical table that has already had two meetings and that is betting on the project taking off.
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There participate, among others, the mayor of Rionegro, Rodrigo Hernández Alzate; the Governor of Antioquia, Aníbal Gaviria Correa; the Minister of Transport, Ángela María Orozco; and the Manager of the Olaya Herrera Airport (delegate of the Medellín Mayor’s Office), Jesús Alberto Sánchez; and the Aerocivil.
“The expansion and consolidation of the José María Córdova airport as a national and international flight hub (connection center) is absolutely transcendental so that we go in the direction of the airport region concept that we have been promoting from the Government of Antioquia”, explained Aníbal Gaviria.
That concept that the governor is talking about will go hand in hand with the economic projection of the Near East of Antioquia, which plans the settlement of new companies, many of them related to health, science, technology and innovation issues that will require an airport close by and with more ability.
And it is that the figures indicate that the current air terminal of this airport, located in the municipality of Rionegro and which serves the city of Medellín, is becoming too small.
Figures from Airplan, the airport operator, indicate that the air terminal closed 2021 with 8,061,897 passengers mobilized, of which, 6,494,879 were national passengers and 1,567,018 international. All of the above in 70,813 air operations.
“The forecasts for growth, passengers and cargo on the Jose María Córdova have exceeded reality and those forecasts, despite the covid, tell us today that the number of passengers and cargo that the need for a second runway meant for The first years of the 2030s now suppose it for the five-year period of 2025 and 2030”, detailed the governor.
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The air terminal closed 2021 with 8,061,897 passengers mobilized,
These figures have put the accelerator on the issue and the need for a second runway and a terminal for this air terminal, the most important in Antioquia. However, the issue of land and its purchase is the one that should occupy our attention now.
This was explained by the mayor of Rionegro, Rodrigo Hernández, who said that the municipal administration has identified 444 properties that would be in the area of influence of the expansion project, which are part of the villages of El Carmín, Abreo and Abreito. Of these, there are 332 private lots and the rest are public, some owned by Aerocivil.
“Today people are afraid because they don’t know what is going to happen, the freezing of their properties, of not being able to sell, of not being able to build, of not being able to have a construction license, not being able to do anything with their property has been 2015 and those people want to know what will happen with that,” said Hernández.
The concern of the subject has been such that a few years ago the Life Oversight of the José María Córdova Airport was created, made up of inhabitants of those properties that in the future would be bought for the second runway to be built.
“We have been with the affected lands for five years and without being able to do anything with them,” Héctor Gil, a member of this oversight office, recently told the media.
According to the mayor, it is imperative to really know a design to know exactly the area of influence of the second track and thus advance in property management.
“The mayor’s office has made a call for agreement and when the property management process begins, it is a process that must warn the socialization before all the neighbors who are there,” added the mayor of Rionegro.
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The purchase of land will be an issue that could generate problems.
Everything indicates that the next two years will be key for the progress of this project, especially when a possible transfer of the Olaya Herrera airport, located in the south of Medellín, gains momentum.
This has been another matter of debate in the capital of Antioquia due to the feasibility of turning the land where this air terminal is located into a large park and moving the airport to the west of the department or to the south of the Aburrá valley. Although this could only be possible in 10 years because Olaya is under concession until 2032, along with five other airports in the region, to Airplan.
“The possibility of transferring the Olaya Herrera can only be considered to the extent that there is a second runway (at the José María Córdova) because otherwise what it would do would be to generate congestion in the José María, so the issues are linked. I think it must be recognized that a priority is the second runway because it responds both to the need for growth of that airport and the future possibility of moving the Olaya”, said the governor, Aníbal Gaviria.
DAVID STREET
MEDELLIN WEATHER
On Twitter: @davidcalle1
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