AGARTALA, Oct 10 (TIWN): Union Development of the North eastern Region (DoNER) Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh in a press communiqué at Secretariat said that Airport expansion is a much awaited project.Speaking to the media personnel’s at secretariat DoNER Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh said that airport expansion is a much awaited project in the state and the expansion project is underway.Agartala airport has flights connecting various Indian cities like Kolkata, Delhi and destinations in southern states. Some fliers from neighbouring Bangladesh also use this airport. Since Agartala is the northeast region’s second largest city in terms of air traffic and population, the airport revamp will prove to be convenient for both residents and authorities, added DoNER Minister Dr Jitendra Singh.Agartala Airport will be renovated and as well as will be made more updated, said Singh. In total 3 demands had been placed before the central Ministers, to announce Agartala Airport as International Airport, to increase the number of flights, to fix flight fares.It is to be mentioned here that the project will include extension of runway to help accommodate wide bodied aircraft and expansion and improvement of the passenger’s amenities. However, four aero bridge provision will there in the new terminal building, it can handle 1000 passengers both departure and arrival at a time. However the present terminal can handle only 500 passengers. Besides four conveyors belt will also inducted in the new terminal.If the terminal building would be at least double its present size and the size of the apron would be four times bigger than the current size.

 It is worthy to mention that the estimate cost for constructing the new terminal building will be around Rs 250 crore. For beefing up the security in the Airport, 87 CCTV cameras have been installed in the airport. Agartala airport is expected to be elevated to the status of an international airport by two and half years.    

With the Airport Authority of India (AAI) following a yearlong persuasion of the Tripura Left front government has agreed to kick off the construction work of the Agartala airport expansion. The state government had recently asked the AAI to start the work by the month of December this year without any further delay which has brought anarchy among the displaced locals at Agartala airport area. AAI is expected to kick off the construction spending Rs. 426 crore. In a move that will aid influx of foreign visitors to the North East and make flying to numerous destinations easier, the Agartala airport is going to get a major facelift.