Search committee visits greenfield airport sites

SHILLONG, Sep 1: The state government has, more or less, completed the inspection of the possible sites where the proposed greenfield airport is likely to be constructed.
Sources said that the search committee appointed by the state government inspected locations like Lumrit, Diengpasoh, Mawrong and Madan Umwang, among others. It will inspect one more area on Friday.
The state government has received a total of eight applications, two of them after the cut-off date, in response to the expression of interest floated for acquisition of land for construction of the greenfield airport.
Sources said that once the final site is inspected on Friday, the government may sit next week to discuss the feasibility of these locations as the site for the greenfield airport.
It is learnt that after the government inspection, an expert team from the Airports Authority of India would visit these locations and prepare a report that will be submitted to the state government.
Earlier this year, the state government had floated an expression of interest (EoI) for construction of a greenfield airport in Ri-Bhoi or East Khasi Hills district.
According to the EoI, the land has to have good frontage and approach roads and should be easily accessible from the Guwahati-Shillong (GS) Road. It should be relatively flat and suitable for the setting up of the airport.
Also, the land should be preferably in the vicinity of Shillong and within approximately 20 km radius (as the crow flies) from the office of Deputy Commissioner of East Khasi Hills. The government requires a minimum of around 800 acres of land for the project.
Greenfield airport is a term used to identify a new airport, built from scratch in a new location. Such airports are constructed to support the projected requirements of traffic of the existing airport.