Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s southernmost district will soon boast of air connectivity with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik slated to inaugurate Malkangiri Airport early January, Special Secretary to CM Vineel Krishna informed through a post on X.
“A dream come true. This board fills my heart with great joy. The farthest district is being connected by scheduled flights soon. Hon’ble CM will be landing at the Malkangiri airport and inaugurate in early January. What a sight that would be …” he wrote.
It would be the biggest New Year gift for the people of Malkangiri district.
The airport has come up over 94.5 hectare land at an estimated cost of Rs 33.03 crore. December 2023 was the target set for completing runway and other facilities.
The state government, which had put the project on fast-track claiming that it would accelerate commercial activities and economic development in the region, will provide subsidy to the airline to make air tickets affordable for the passengers. Initially, flight services will be made available between Malkangiri and Bhubaneswar and later extended to Visakhapatnam, sources said.
This will take the number of operational airports in the state to seven.
Malkangiri airport is the second significant connectivity project in the district after Gurupriya bridge over river Janbai, inaugurated by the Chief Minister in 2018. It went on to become the paragon of development in Swabhiman area, once considered a Maoist hotbed, by providing connectivity to 151 villages spread over eight panchayats with a population of 30,000 tribals that were cut-off from the mainland for over five decades.
