Amid the ongoing political controversy over new infrastructure on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has decided to focus on the upcoming greenfield dual-use airport and not extend the existing naval airfield at INS Baaz.The upcoming airport will be at Chingen, adjoining Galathea Bay on the Great Nicobar Island (GNI), a part of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago in the Bay of Bengal. The INS Baaz is 30 km north of it at Campbell Bay on the same island.The greenfield airport will cost Rs 13,000 crore; it would be shared between the ministries of Civil and Defence. It is expected to be ready in five years.The Tribune had broken the report about the new airport on Great Nicobar Island on December 13, 2025.The extension of INS Baaz had been dropped, top sources in the Ministry of Defence said, adding that the base having a 4,500-foot runway, which is suitable for smaller planes, would continue to function. The new facility at Galathea Bay will be in addition to INS Baaz.Extending the runway of INS Baaz to allow operations of larger aircraft would have required a significantly higher disturbance to flora and fauna and the coastline than when compared to the greenfield site at Galathea Bay, the sources said.For making the greenfield airport, five sites, including INS Baaz, were evaluated for topography, obstruction to air navigation, impact on tribal populations and flora and fauna before zeroing in on Galathea Bay.The possibility of developing INS Baaz had limitations, forcing the dropping of the idea, a Defence Ministry official said. The site adjoining INS Baaz is dominated by a 80-metre-high hill. Significant hill cutting and dredging of shallow coastline would have been required to ensure safe aviation for large aircraft. Also, the site has limited scope for future expansion and would not have been able to accommodate infrastructure required for an international airport, the sources said. Further, expansion of the runway of INS Baaz would require extensive land reclamation and potentially pass through existing habitations.The greenfield airport is part of the Centre’s development of the Great Nicobar Island, with three other projects, namely an international container transshipment port, a township and a power plant. The Opposition has been questioning the project, calling it an “environmental disaster”.Defence Ministry sources said calling “GNI development” a commercial project was “geographical illiteracy”. This project should have been done about 30 years ago, they said.The intent is to do this to leverage the location of these islands to build them up, the way Singapore has built up its location as a logistics hub and as a centre for various types of industries, including logistics, tourism, IT, high-tech industries, etc.The Strait of Malacca is just 40 nautical miles from Galathea Bay; 80 per cent of China’s crude and 70 per cent of its LNG go through the strait.About 166 sq km have been designated for the development of the GNI project. As much as 81 per cent of the island area will continue in the national park under the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve, as well as in the forest and tribal conservation area. Additional land is being notified to be part of the reserve.