The signing of a joint venture agreement for development of Greenfield Airport at Nagchala in Balh valley of Mandi district, on Monday between Ministry of Civil Aviation and HP government at New Delhi, has given a fresh push to the dream project of Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.
The agreement was signed in the presence of the CM Jai Ram Thakur and Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotirditya Sindia.
The CM said, “The airport in this region would improve connectivity, boost tourism and generate employment opportunities, besides enabling landing and takeoff of wide bodied aircrafts paving way for international flights in the region.”
He said, “ The Airport will have a proposed runway of 3150 meters for which land measuring 2840 bighas has been identified; the Airport Authority of India has also conducted the Obstacle Limitation Surface (OLS) survey and Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) survey finding the place feasible for round the year operation of AB-320 aircraft”, he added.
The CM has also requested the Civil Aviation Minister to start landing of ATR 42- 600 aircrafts at Shimla, Bhuntar and Gaggal airports under UDAN II on priority basis and also extend Chandigarh – Dharamshala air flight to Chamba and Shimla – Rampur flight up to Kinnaur.
Chairman AAI Sanjeev Kumar, Secretary, Civil Aviation Rajiv Bansal, Chief Secretary Ram Subhag Singh and Principal Secretary Tourism and Civil Aviation Devesh Kumar were present on this occasion.