Lack of roads, air routes impeding NE devt: reports

Kolkata: Air-connectivity in the north-eastern region is less than 3% of all traffic in the top 46 airports in India, says a new report on the region. While there are 11 operational and 11 non-operational airports in the region, three of the state capitals do not have any airport. Only Guwahati and Agartala airports have night landing facilities.
These are some of the findings of a report published by Yes Bank and the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) recently. The north eastern states have a "fairly good" human development index but lag behind economically due to lack of infrastructure.
Another report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and ICC found that limited infrastructure coupled with low productivity and restricted market access has been the primary barrier to the region’s development. The Yes Bank report said the lack of infrastructure had created horizontal divisions among various ethnic groups affecting the fabric of social harmony in the region. The region has more than 160 scheduled tribes and over 400 other tribal and sub-tribal communities and groups.
But it's on the connectivity front that the north-east comes up really short. Road connectivity in the north-east is well below the national average on most parameters, said the Yes Bank report.
12/01/10 Financial Express

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Categories: Airports Jan 2010