Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary Ministry of Civil Aviation today said that the construction work at Jeypore Airport will be completed within three months.
Ms.Padhee’s statement came after a visit of a team from Civil Aviation Ministry today to take stock of the ongoing expansion work of the airport which has been included in the ‘Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik’ (UDAN) scheme.
The Union Joint Secretary said, efforts are being initiated for expansion of the airstrip so that operation of 18-seater aircraft can easily land and take-off.
Similarly, there are plans for expansion so that the airport handles aircraft with 60-seater capacity.
Senior officials of Airport Authority of India (AAI), Air Traffic Control, Koraput Collector, local MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati and other officials of district administration were also present.
“Today’s review meeting was held to discuss various issues including process for applying for licence. We hope that all the pending works will be completed within three months,” said Koraput Collector K Sudarshan Chakrobarthy.
Notably, the expansion work of the airstrip began in 2016 after it was included under the ambitious scheme in 2016.
Earlier, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in a letter to Union Civil Aviation Minister, Suresh Prabhu recently had requested to expedite and hasten the process of construction and development of a new airport in Bhubaneswar.
He had also sought Mr.Prabhu’s intervention in early implementation of Centre’s UDAN scheme to kick start flight services from Jeypore, Rourkela and Utkela and early completion of expansion work of Jharsuguda Airport runway to handle bigger aircrafts and commercial flights.
The Union Petroleum Minister requested the Civil Aviation minister to upgrade an existing private airstrip at Angul for flight operations under UDAN-2 scheme, revamp of an airstrip at Amarda Road in Mayurbhanj district and development of an airline industrial hub in Bhubaneswar by setting up of ancillary industries.
