PM Modi on Saturday laid the foundation stone for construction of greenfield Airport at Hollongi worth Rs 955 crore (Rs 1042 crore with state share), and inaugurated an upgraded and retrofitted airport at Tezu in Lohit district at a worth of Rs 125 crore through remote at a function at IG Park.
The Tezu airport will connect Guwahati, Jorhat and Hollongi. Terming tourism as a money spinner for the state, PM said that with the coming up of the greenfield airport and rail network, the industry would flourish and many unemployed youth would get employment opportunities.
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Modi said that the flights under the UDAN scheme will start from Tezu airport.
The greenfield airport at Hollongi will be a great help to the people of Itanagar as at present the nearest airport to Itanagar is at Lilabari in Assam at a distance of 80 km. The airport at Hollongi will reduce the distance by a fourth.
The airport will boost the economic growth of the region and will be of strategically important to the nation. The airport will have various sustainability features like green belt along approach road to act as noise barrier, rain water harvesting, use of energy efficient equipment, officials said.
The ambitious greenfield airport project in the state has been pending for several years due to controversies over site selection, they said. Initially, Karsingsa was selected as the site for the greenfield airport but due to some technicalities, the Directoroate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had asked the state government to find some other site, officials said.
On the request of the state government, a Central joint inspection committee visited Itanagar to study the feasibility of the site during 2017 and recommended Hollongi for the greenfield airport.
