Rourkela BJP MlA Dilip Ray had earlier brought to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s notice the need to have a state-of-the-art airport for the Steel City.
Now, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has conveyed the commitment of the NDA Government at the Centre to set up such an airport at Rourkela and has announced creation of fuelling facilities at the proposed airport.Pradhan in a letter to Ray has said creating fuelling facilities at the airport has been examined in consultation with the Indian Oil Corporation limited (IOCl). This is in response to Ray’s earlier letter to Pradhan in this regard.
The IOCl has indicated that the requirement of 800 litres per day for refueling aircraft to begin with can be met by positioning the refueller, said Pradhan. He said the refueller can be topped up by a tank truck, and this would be an interim arrangement for expediting the process of operationalizing the airport at the earliest.The IOCl has also been asked to carry out a techno-economic feasibility study to create permanent facility such as aviation tank and filters taking into account the future economic and business potential of the area, said Pradhan.