The proposed Shree Jagannath International Airport in Puri has received a major boost with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, or MoEFCC, granting final environmental clearance to the greenfield airport project.
The proposed airport will be developed over 471.348 hectares at Sipasarubali in Puri district. The project has now received both Environmental Clearance and Coastal Regulation Zone, or CRZ, clearance, removing a major hurdle for its implementation.
The forest-related issues concerning the project have also been addressed. The state government is now awaiting the final approval and necessary No Objection Certificate from the ministry before moving ahead with the next stage of the project.
The Odisha government is also expected to approach the Airports Authority of India, or AAI, for approval to prepare the Detailed Project Report, or DPR. Construction-related activities will subsequently be taken up in coordination with the AAI and the state Transport Department.
Earlier, the MoEFCC had granted Stage-I, or in-principle, forest clearance for diversion of around 27.887 hectares of forest land in the Puri Wildlife Division for construction of the airport.
The Stage-I approval was based on the recommendations of the ministry’s Advisory Committee, which considered the proposal at its meeting on February 27, 2026.
The approval was subject to several conditions, including implementation of mitigation measures and recommendations arising from impact assessment studies and a site-specific wildlife management plan prepared in line with recommendations of the Wildlife Institute of India and Zoological Survey of India.
The state government was required to comply with 33 conditions, including undertaking compensatory afforestation over 29.939 hectares of non-forest land for obtaining the Stage-II, or final, forest clearance.
With the environmental and CRZ clearances now in place, the Shree Jagannath International Airport project is expected to move towards the DPR and construction stages, subject to the remaining statutory approvals.
