DIBRUGARH, July 7 � With the Army authority at New Delhi clearing the last hurdle in the modernisation of the Dibrugarh Airport at Mohanbari here on Monday, the decks have been cleared for further modernisation of the airport. Assam has three civil airports, one each at Guwahati, Dibrugarh and North Lakhimpur while others at Jorhat, Silchar and Tezpur belong to the Indian Air Force, with �civil enclaves�. These civil enclaves and the civil airports at Guwahati, Dibrugarh and North Lakhimpur (Lilabari) are administered by the Airports Authoirity of India (AAI).
According to the AAI chairman, V P Agrawal, the Dibrugarh Airport would soon have a longer runway to enable operation of larger and heavier aircraft. Presently, the airport here has a 7500 feet runway. This would be made 9000 feet long by February next year. The airport would be equipped with modern night landing facilities, two aerobridges and a cargo terminal. Work on lengthening the runway is likely to commence in October this year. He conveyed this to the AGP general secretary, Sarbananda Sonowal, in the course of a meeting at New Delhi this afternoon.
The runway expansion project took several years as Defence land had to be transferred to the AAI to enable the construction work. The Indian Air Force parted with its land several months ago, and the AAI was negotiating with the Army authority to part with their land for the development of the NorthEast�s second most important airport. The runway at the Borjhar airport in Guwahati, which is now 9000 feet long, is likely to be lengthened further, it is learnt.
It may be mentioned here that the former Dibrugarh MP, Sarbananda Sonowal and public leaders of Arunachal Pradesh, like Tapir Gao and Khiren Rijiju (both former MPs too) were actively lobbying with the Centre for the development of the Dibrugarh Airport. Their efforts were supplemented by the Jorhat MP and Union Minister, Bijoy Krishna Handique. The latest developments on the Dibrugarh Airport were hailed as a big step in infrastructure development by all these leaders today. The present Dibrugarh MP, Paban Singh Ghatowar too has expressed satisfaction that the Dibrugarh Airport would get its due development, although belatedly.
