The Navy’s plans to expand its existing airfield INS Baaz and making of Naval jetty on Great Nicobar island has been awaiting approval for almost five years.Meanwhile, a few kilometres south on the same island, a transhipment hub is coming up as part of the Rs 81,000 crore infrastructure project that has been at the centre of political controversy.Located at Campbell Bay on the Great Nicobar Island, INS Baaz is currently the southernmost air station of the Indian forces. The Naval jetty is planned to come up in the same Campbell bay.The Great Nicobar Island (GNI) Transhipment Hub is the centrepiece of the Rs 81,000 crore mega-infrastructure project located at Galathea Bay. It is designed to be an International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT) that will compete with global logistics giants like Singapore and Colombo.Sources confirmed to The Tribune that the expansion of INS Baaz is held up due to permission for acquiring land and there is no permission to go ahead with the jetty either.The INS Baaz, is positioned at the ‘mouth’ of the Strait of Malacca, and acts as India’s first sentinel for the vital water body through which a massive portion of global commercial and strategic shipping passes.The INS Baaz was commissioned in July 2012. It is primarily used by the Navy’s Dornier 228 aircraft and can support the IAF’s C-130J Super Hercules. The runway at INS Baaz is barely 3,000 feet and the Navy is seeking to expand it to almost 9,000-10,000 feet. It will allow long-range maritime surveillance aircraft, such as the Boeing P-8I to operate directly from Great Nicobar rather than flying in from the mainland or Sri Vijaya Puram (Port Blair).Once expanded it can also allow operations of fighter jets. The Navy has its own maritime jets, the MiG 29K, while a few IAF squadrons of the Sukhoi 30 MKI and Jaguar also have a maritime role.Meanwhile, as part of the GNI infrastructure project at the Galathea bay, India has formally initiated the process to make a second airfield at Chingen. Estimated to cost Rs 8,573 crore, the green-field airport project at Galathea Bay is being handled by Airports Authority of India (AAI).But once the infrastructure is completed, it can be used for the naval planes, UAVs and the Air Force. This will be in addition to the existing naval air base, INS Baaz, at Campbell Bay, which is also on the Great Nicobar island.Part of the archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar in the Bay of Bengal, the island is located 150 kms north-west from Banda Aceh in Sumatra, Indonesia.