Bhubaneswar: The proposed Shree Jagannath International Airport in Puri moved a step closer to reality with Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change according final environmental clearance to the project, removing a major obstacle to the commencement of construction.The airport will come up over 471 hectares of land at Sipasarubali. “The EC has been accorded for the Puri airport project. A no-objection certificate (NOC) thereafter is required from MoEFCC to go ahead with the project. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will also give a go-ahead to prepare detailed project report (DPR) to take up construction work of the airport,” said collector (Puri) Dibyajyoti Parida.On April 4, the project received MoEFCC stage-1 EC, which was crucial to fast-track the ambitious greenfield project. Last year in June, the forest ministry gave in-principle approval to the project following the expert appraisal committee (EAC) recommending environmental clearance on May 6. The proposed airport will have an estimated passenger-handling capacity of 4.6 million per annum. Parida said MoEFCC stage-1 clearance had certain conditions that were fulfilled for getting the final clearance.Govt officials said being accorded final EC means the required forest land becomes part of the project and the project can be taken up. The airport is proposed to be developed on a 471-hectare area (1,164 acre) with an estimated cost of Rs 5,631 crore. Officials said for the runway and passenger terminal building, 3.427 hectares and 0.037 hectare of forest land are required, although total required runway space is 114.961 hectares.