The State government has officially sought 800 acres of unencumbered land for construction of greenfield airport project in Ri-Bhoi or East Khasi Hills.
The Meghalaya Transport Corporation (MTC), on behalf of the Transport Department has invited applications from interested land owners for purchase of unencumbered land for the greenfield airport project in the two districts.
As per the expression of interest (EOI) floated recently, a minimum of approximately 800 acres is required, which may be through multiple land owners aggregated for this requirement including consortium.
The land owners will have to provide consent to the Government of Meghalaya for acquisition of the land for the greenfield airport purpose after finalisation of legal terms and rates of properties.
The MTC will shortlist suitable land for the proposed greenfield airport project and based on the shortlisted details, the Search Committee of the State government will conduct an inspection at a later date with intimation to the land owners.
The last date for submission of EOI by interested land owners is June 6.
According to the EOI, the land should be leasehold or freehold and the land owner should possess the Non-Encumbrance Certificate.
“The land should have good frontage and approach roads and be easily accessible from the Guwahati-Shillong Road. It should be relatively flat and suitable for setting up of the greenfield airport,” the EOI said.
Interestingly, one of the clauses of the EOI stated that “land should be preferably in the vicinity of Shillong and within approximately 20kms radius (as the crow flies) from the office of the DC (Deputy Commissioner), East Khasi Hills District office as reference point.”
It may be mentioned that the State government has decided to find a new site for construction of the airport as the present one at Umroi is not feasible for landing of larger aircraft.
The State government also stated that the cost involved in levelling the nearby mountains near Umroi airport may not yield commensurate benefit.
During hearing of a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) in the division bench of Meghalaya High Court on May 10, Advocate General Amit Kumar said that as per indications by the Airport Authority of India (AAI), a greenfield airport could be started elsewhere if land is available.
Kumar also told the court that some sites have been tentatively identified and it is for the AAI to take a call if there was any favourable response to the invitation for expression of interest.
During the hearing, the AAI has informed the High Court that it may not be possible to expand the existing airport at Umroi or the runway to accommodate larger aircraft.
The High Court has given two months to the State government and the AAI to report on the progress of the land acquisition process for the proposed greenfield airport. The matter will come up for hearing on July 11.
