Himachal Pradesh to get a new airport! The Civil Aviation Ministry and the Himachal Pradesh government recently signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) for the development of a Greenfield Airport in Nagchala, located in the district of Mandi, Himachal Pradesh. According to a statement issued by the Civil Aviation Ministry, the new greenfield airport at Nagchala is being developed under the ministry’s Greenfield Airport Policy. A Joint Venture firm between the state government of Himachal Pradesh and the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has been formed. The expected land requirement for the upcoming airport is around 515 acres and the airport project is estimated to cost around Rs 900 crore excluding the cost of land, the Civil Aviation Ministry said.
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, while speaking on the occasion, said his ministry is committed to providing last mile connectivity to the people of Himachal Pradesh. With this aim in mind, the Civil Aviation Ministry is developing new aviation infrastructure and also upgrading existing facilities in the state of Himachal Pradesh whether it is the development of a new greenfield airport in Mandi or additional land acquisition for the extension of runways at the existing airports, the minister said. With this, the ministry is committed to developing civil aviation as a harbinger of the region’s economic development, Scindia added.
In the state of Himachal Pradesh, there are three airports i.e. Kullu, Shimla and Kangra and five heliports i.e. Kangnidhar, Rampur, Shimla, Baddi, and SASE (Manali) that are developed or being developed which would give a massive boost to the state’s tourism industry once completed. Apart from Scindia, the event was attended by the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Jai Ram Thakur along with other senior officials from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Airport Authority of India and the state government of Himachal Pradesh.
