Shillong July 2: Transport Minister, Sniawbhalang Dhar on Tuesday inspected ongoing works at Umroi Airport and doubted if the airport can be expanded further in view of huge amount required for the purpose in order to allow operation of big planes.
The airport at Umroi is yet to be fully functional, and only small aircrafts are being operated.
“We wanted to enhance Umroi airport but according to a report, it is not feasible because of some obstacles. We are discussing if building a new airport would require less expenditure. But as of now we cannot say yes or no on this issue,†Dhar told reporters.
He said that if upgradation of the airport would require more than Rs 7000 crore, the state government is still under discussion as of now about options – whether to upgrade the Umroi airport or go for new ones with less expenditure.
The minister informed that one aircraft of Indigo will start operating from July 20, and one more aircraft is also operating from Umroi to Raipur via Kolkata.
On extension of the runway of Umroi airport, Dhar said that work for extension of runway has been suspended for a time being because there are still some hillocks blocking the visibility of the runway.
The runway has to be extended from 6,000-feet to about 8,000 feet to facilitate landing of bigger planes.
In 2017, the Airports Authority of India, pointed out that for making Umroi airport fully functional, huge amount of money is required for removing obstacles in three clusters – I, II and III.
