Arunachal Pradesh’s first airport Hollongi is expected to ready by August 2022, ahead of the scheduled completion date.
Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu visited the construction site of the ambitious greenfield airport at Hollongi along the boundary with Assam and took stock of the work progress on ground.
It may be noted that the airport is supposed to be completed by 22 November 2022 as per the original agreement with construction agencies. However, the Central and state government authorities are pushing for its commissioning by August 2022.
Once commissioned, the airport will be the first in the mountain state with a runway of 2,300 mtr eligible for landing and take-off of Boeing 747 aircraft. Of the 2,300 mtr runway, work on 1,500 mtr has been completed.
The pre-fabricated terminal building will be in place by early 2022. The pre-fabricated terminal building will be temporary while construction of the permanent building will continue.
Once the permanent structure is ready, the temporary structures will be utilised as cargo area. Keeping in view the possibilities of future expansion, the government has acquired about 500 sq mtr of land beyond the runway while the Kokila river that runs along the airport boundary is being diverted.
The passenger terminal building of approximately 4,100 sq mtr will be designed such as to handle 100 arriving and 100 departing passengers at a time with scope for future expansion.
While acquisition of required five acre land on Assam side, shifting of 132 kV power grid line and diversion of Kokila river are under process, about 74 percent work has been done on the four-lane approach road of about four km to the airport, which will be completed by 31 January 2022.
The ongoing works were affected due to COVID-19, particularly the second phase of lockdowns imposed by governments, unavailability of construction materials and parts of machineries in nearby areas and its restricted movement. Also shifting of Chakma habitats and high-tension power lines along the proposed runway alignment got delayed due to the pandemic.