Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated the first greenfield facility, the spanking new Donyi Polo airport in Arunachal Pradesh, amidst chanting of incantations by tribal priests.
The airport located at Hollongi, around 15 kilometres from the state capital Itanagar, will link the border state with other Indian cities with commercial flights as well as other parts of Arunachal Pradesh through helicopter services.
The airport's foundation stone was laid by Modi on February 2019.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also dedicated the 600 MW Kameng hydropower project in the northeastern state’s West Kameng district to the nation.
The Kameng hydropower project has been developed at a cost of more than Rs 8,450 crore in an area spread over more than 80 sq km.
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It is expected to make Arunachal Pradesh a power-surplus state and benefit the national grid in terms of stability and integration.
“Connectivity and energy infrastructure will bring a new dawn of development for the northeastern region,” Modi said addressing the gathering at the airport.
The Prime Minister said that his government works 365 days, 24 by seven for the development of this country.
He also launched a coffee-table book on the central government’s regional connectivity scheme UDAN.
Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju and Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu were present on the occasion.
What Is A Greenfield Airport?
A greenfield airport is defined as an aviation facility which encompasses certain greenfield project characteristics. The name suuggests that the projects categorised under this label have certain environmental qualities like usage of previously undeveloped or empty greenfield land, for example. In these projects, commissioning, planning and construction processes are generally carried out from scratch.
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Also, in these cases, the definition of greenfield differs from the standard definition which talks about a wide expanse of natural land i.e a meadow, prairie or grassland. Here greenfield denotes that a project which is free from any constraints imposed upon it by prior work or existing infrastructure. The brownfield concept, on the other hand is based upon remodelling or improvisation upon existing facilities.
Donyi Polo Airport: The First Greenfield Facility
The new airport Donyi Polo is named after the deity revered by the indigenous communities of the state. With this third operational airport for Arunachal Pradesh, the total count of airports in the North-East region reaches 16.
The Airport Authority of India (AAI) constructed the Donyi Polo airport at an estimated cost of Rs 645 crore.
According to the officials, the 4,100 square metre airport is designed to have eight check-in counters and can accommodate 200 passengers during peak hours. It will also be equipped with all the modern facilities for passengers.
It will have a 2,300 meter-long runway suitable for landing and take-off of Boeing 747, the officials said.
IndiGo Airlines will commence commercial flights from the airport from November 28.
Flights connecting Hollongi, which is around 15 km from Itanagar, with Mumbai and Kolkata will operate daily barring Wednesday. A weekly flight service connecting Hollongi with Kolkata on Wednesdays will begin on December 3, the chief strategy and revenue officer of IndiGo, Sanjay Kumar had said recently.
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The Kameng hydro power project has been developed at a cost of more than Rs 8,450 crore in an area spread over more than 80 km in West Kameng district.
It is expected to make Arunachal Pradesh a power surplus state and benefit the national grid in terms of stability and integration.
