SHILLONG: After a long lull, the development activities at the Shillong airport has once again started and necessary infrastructures are coming up in the airport to make the airport fully functional.
A visit to the airport reveals that the construction of the boundary wall has started and even the construction of new Air Traffic Control tower is under progress.
Speaking on the matter, Airport Director, Manoj Kumar Naik said that there are around 13-14 gaps along the boundary wall and 3-4 walls have been closed down as of now.
In addition, two refueling facility are also coming up at the airport out of which one belongs to Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and one belongs to Indian Oil Corporation.
The construction work for the BPCL refueling facility has started and it will be completed by September 25 whereas IOC is expected to start the work very soon.
Reacting to a query about the installation of Instrument Landing System (ILS) at the Shillong Airport, Naik said that the installation of ILS alone would not serve the purpose but its operationalisation was very important.
He said that before installing ILS, a lot of obstructions in terms of hills, tree and power lines in and around the airport had to be removed even as he added that survey of obstacles was over and now the team of the State Government and Airports Authority of India (AAI) has to remove the obstacles
The Airport director also urged the State Government to expedite the whole process of removing obstacles even as he added that it should be continuous.
It may be mentioned that an instrument landing system (ILS) enables aircraft to land if the pilots are unable to establish visual contact with the runway. It does this by way of transmitted radio signals.
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