Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first Greenfield airport in Arunachal Pradesh — the Donyi Polo Airport at Itanagar — and dedicated the 600 MW Kameng Hydro Power Station to the nation. Northeast India will now have 16 airports. As informed by a news report in NDTV.

With Donyi Polo Airport, all eight northeastern state capitals will now have airports. This is also the first greenfield project in northeast India. Earlier, people from Itanagar had to travel six to ten hours to either Dibrugarh or Guwahati, in Assam, to take flights.The name of the airport reflects the traditions and rich cultural heritage of Arunachal Pradesh and its age-old indigenous reverence to the Sun (Donyi) and Moon (Polo).

This will be the third operational airport in Arunachal Pradesh. Earlier, two other towns of Arunachal Pradesh — Pasighat and Tezu — were linked under the UDAN scheme. The new airport has 2,300 metres of runway and is suitable for operating large, wide-bodied aircraft like Boeing 747. Donyi Polo Airport has been developed over an area of 690 acres of land at a cost of more than INR 640 crore. It has a peak handling capacity of 200 passengers per hour.

The foundation stone was laid by  Modi in February 2019. Despite the pandemic and other challenges, work was completed within a short span of time. This is the seventh airport to have been built in the Northeast in the last eight years. This rapid development of airports in the region is in keeping with the government’s emphasis on increasing connectivity. The airport terminal is a modern building, which promotes energy efficiency, renewable energy and the recycling of resources. On October 28, a test flight operated by budget carrier IndiGo had landed at the newly-constructed facility.