Mizoram to get its second airport soon, Govt conducts aerial survey

Setting up an additional airport for southern Mizoram is a long cherished dream of the people and the government alike

Mizoram is all set to get its second airport. The second airport will come up in South Mizoram. On Wednesday, Mizoram Government conducted an aerial survey at Vuakmual, Lunglei District in southern Mizoram to study the suitability of the location for setting up a green-field airport.

The helicopter survey took off from Kawmzawl Helipad, Lunglei at 11:00 am this forenoon, and included State Agriculture Minister C. Lalrinsanga, Rajya Sabha MP K. Vanlalvena, Lunglei High Power Committee (HPC) Vice Chairman Lawmawma Tochhawng, as well as representatives from state Information and Public Relations Department, and media persons were on board the survey helicopter.

At the request of the state Government, an important meeting to discuss setting up an airport for Southern Mizoram was conducted at the Ministry of Civil Aviation on April 14.

Key officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation led by Secretary, Rajiv Bansal, and top officials of Mizoram’s General Administration Department led by Chief Secretary Dr Renu Sharma, as well as officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and Pawan Hans attended the meeting.

After discussing the necessity of setting up an airport for southern Mizoram, the meeting tasked the Mizoram Government to identify a suitable site for the green-field airport project and to submit a survey report and detailed project report for the same.

Today’s aerial survey was conducted as per the directives from this meeting and is a crucial step towards getting the necessary reports ready for further submission to the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The aerial report studied in detail the suitability of Vuakmual and adjoining areas for setting up an airport, and whether there is enough space/land to construct a terminal building, fire stations and whether there are any possible obstructions in the vicinity for aerial traffic, and whether the area is a free land and not privately owned. Following today’s preliminary survey, technical surveys of the site are expected to commence soon.

Setting up an additional airport for southern Mizoram is a long cherished dream of the people and the government alike.

Mizoram’s lone Lengpui airport is 197.8 km, 272.2 km, and 328.7 km respectively from Lunglei, Lawngtlai and Siaha, the three District capital towns of southern Mizoram.

The journey to Lengpui airport is often long and arduous, particularly during the monsoon when the roads are often blocked by landslides. Vuakmual is estimated to be 25-30 km from Lunglei town and would be easily accessible from all southern districts of Mizoram.

The Government of Mizoram has submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Civil Aviation to include this project under the Ministry’s Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) – Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) 5.0.

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