Jharkhand govt & AAI to sign MoU for Dhalbhumgarh airport on

Jharkhand government and Airports Authority of India (AAI) will ink an MoU on January 24 to set up an airport in Dhalbhumgarh in East Singhbhum district, an official said on Tuesday.

Dhalbhumgarh is about 48-km from here.

The signing of MoU will be followed by the ground-breaking ceremony to be performed by Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das, said Deputy Commissioner of East Singhbhum, Amit Kumar.

Addressing a press conference here, Kumar said Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha, Civil Aviation secretary, R N Choubey and senior officials of AAI will also be present on the occasion.

The proposed airport will be a joint venture project between the Jharkhand government and AAI, he said adding that the state cabinet in its last meeting had approved the airport project at Dhalbhumgarh.

Kumar said 240 acres of land, completely government land, has been procured for the first phase of the project.

During the MoU signing ceremony, the DC said a blue print of the proposed airport will be presented.

The first phase work of the airport would be completed by end of 2020 and 72-seater aircraft will start operating initially from the airport from January 2021, he said.

AAI will soon invest Rs 100 crore to construct boundary wall of the airport, develop runway, etc, Kumar said.

"We are in the process of identifying 545 acres of land for the second phase of the airport," Kumar added.