“As per the plan, more or less Rs 500 crore wil be spent by AAI and land acquisition cost will be born by the state government.”
Shillong, Sept 24: The much-awaited expansion of Shillong Airport at Umroi has made significant progress with the state government deciding to seek exemption from Centre on certain guidelines and the cabinet going to clear a proposal to acquire 22 acres of land for the project.
“We need the government of India to exempt certain guidelines (to pave way for the expansion) so that we can bring big aircraft to land in Shillong Airport,” said deputy chief minister Sniawbhalang Dhar following a meeting with Civil Aviation Ministry and Airport Authority of India (AAI) officials at the airport on Friday.
Chief secretary, commissioner & secretary and senior officials of Transport department also attended the meeting.
“The government is very serious to expand the airport,” he added
Informing that a second report from AAI pointed out certain Government of India guidelines coming in way of expansion of the airport’s runway, he said, “If exemption is not considered, the cost will be so much to bear. If we get the exemption, we can expand the airport within few years from now.”
He said ₹8000 crore will be needed to clear the hillocks (as per the guidelines), but the runway can be extended by 900 meters within the present airport land by avoiding the hillocks.
The government needs to acquire additional 22 acres of land, including 16 acre for safety aspects and 6 acre for parking bay for big aircraft, he said.
A cabinet meeting will take both the matters – exemption from GoI guidelines and acquiring of land – for expansion of Shillong Airport, the minister said.
To a query, Dhar said, “As per the plan, more or less Rs 500 crore wil be spent by AAI and land acquisition cost will be born by the state government.”
“If everything is done, the airport will be made 24X7 functional and it can help generate 300-400 jobs both directly and indirectly,” he added.
