Northeast To Get First Highway Landing Strip, Close To China, Myanmar Borders

The northeast is set to get its first aircraft landing strip on a national highway on Saturday.

The Emergency Landing Facility (ELF) on the Moran bypass of National Highway 2 in Assam's Dibrugarh district will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The Prime Minister will be flying from New Delhi to the Chabua Air Force Base in Assam on Saturday morning. From there, he will take a flight and land at the Moran ELF. The PM will then witness an airshow featuring around 16 IAF aircraft," said an official.

The new 4.2-km facility will serve as an alternate runway capable of handling emergency landings and take-offs for military aircraft, helicopters and transport planes during national contingencies and humanitarian operations.

"The China border is approximately 300 km from Moran and the Myanmar border is 200 km away. The ELF is strategically located," said an official.

Trial runs on the airstrip have been on since Wednesday and a large number of people have gathered to see aircraft land and take off.

"The construction of the four-lane highway will make travelling easier. We are also proud to see fighter aircraft landing on the airstrip here," said Ranjan Gogoi, a resident of Moran.

The airstrip has been modelled after other expressways in the country, which can accommodate both transport planes and fighter jets.

In November 2021, PM Modi had inaugurated an airstrip built on the Purvanchal Expressway near Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh.