The Meghalaya government has requested the Ministry of Civil Aviation to declare the Shillong Airport as an International Airport.
Informing this while addressing at the 20th Annual Conference of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Conference held on Saturday, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said today with around 10,000 passengers every month, the Shillong airport is directly connected to Delhi, Kolkata, Aizawl, Agartala, Imphal, Dimapur, Dibrugarh and Guwahati.
“With the help of government of India, we are now taking steps to upgrade the Shillong Airport to accommodate bigger flights. We have additionally requested the Ministry of Civil Aviation to declare the Shillong Airport as an International Airport to improve direct connectivity with countries bordering the NE States, which will greatly boost the Act East Policy,” Sangma said.
He said thanks to the government of India – Under the Act East Policy, several projects, funded by the Ministry of External Affairs, have been undertaken to connect North-eastern states with neighboring countries like Myanmar & Bangladesh.
This even includes the development of an economic corridor.
Sangma also said playing to the regional strength, industry and government partnership can scale up development of the region while maintaining the right balance and mitigating the threats that have existed traditionally.
“Adopting learnings from small countries of Europe and Asia that have significantly lifted up their economy with limited resource while protecting the flora and fauna, shall take the north eastern regional economy to higher level'” he added.
Stating that an integrated approach, greater cooperation at regional and local levels are essential for this development, the CM said, “I believe that a shared vision of costs and benefits through strategic planning and infrastructure interventions are key strengths for the development of the region.”
The chief minister said although our location has been creating hurdles to the pace of our development but it also holds significant importance in terms of strategic, cultural, economic and ecological aspects, leading to development of trade and commerce with ASEAN countries.
“This plays a vital role in improving the socio-economic condition of the States of Northeast.
I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the PM and the Government of India, for the various strategies, policy interventions, initiatives like Gati Shakti, UDAN, infrastructure developments for the North-eastern region,” he said.
Sangma said there are huge investments being made in key sectors like Tourism, infrastructure, logistics, food processing, and other which are making this region a preferred investment destination.
“This brings me to the second topic of today’s discussion “Regional connectivity to bring North-East Region at par with mainland India.” Northeast India is positioned to serve the Government of India’s strategic vision encompassed in the Act East Policy. The region has abundant deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, and limestone, and a sizable proportion of land under cultivation,” he said.
He said among the countries with which it shares a border, the majority of Northeast India’s trade is with Bangladesh, while its trade with other neighboring countries such as Bhutan and Myanmar mostly occur through border points located outside of the region.
Sangma further said that Meghalaya acts as a land bridge for India’s participation in institutional forums, including the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation and the South Asia Sub regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program.
Leveraging upon its link with Bangladesh, the CM said Meghalaya has been focusing on improving trade activities at the border areas.
As part of this effort Border Infrastructure shall be improved by establishing more Integrated Check Points (ICPs) along with Land Custom Station and Border Haats.
“In this direction Road connectivity along the Dawki-Bholaganj Road and Tura-Dalu Road are also being improved. We also are establishing integrated check posts and border haats to promote economic activities,” he said while adding that through PMGSY over 4200 Kms of rural roads have been constructed across the state.
“Through PM- Gati Shakti we are already connecting key economic hubs in the state. In line with this, we are soon going to launch a new scheme to connect every single habitation in Meghalaya with roads,” CM said.
He further informed currently, 18 major road projects are being implemented to connect Meghalaya with other states.
“We are even in process of establishing a direct link with West Bengal through Mahendraganj-hilli road.
This will reduce a distance of 600 Kms to just 85 kms and will foster trade and commerce,” the CM added.