Road Ministry approves plan to develop national highways into helipads

NEW DELHI: Soon, helicopters may land and take off from complexes that will come up along the national highways (NHs). The road transport ministry has approved a plan to develop such wayside amenities at every 50 km and most of these sites will have helipad facility for any emergency situation including a disaster.

Sources said wayside amenities along the Yamuna Expressway have provision for helipads, primarily for evacuation purpose in case of a mishap. They added only 25x25 sqm space is required for building a helipad. "The helipad must have space to write a big H and we need to put a wind-shock to help detect how the wind is blowing so that a pilot can prepare landing," said an executive who was associated with the Yamuna Expressway project.

A road transport ministry official said though the plan is to develop 1,440 wayside amenities in two phases - one at every 100 km in case of divided highways and 50 km in case of undivided corridors - all of them may not get helipads. "Where we have enough land available, helipads will be built. These can become tourist hotspot as well," said an official.

Minister Nitin Gadkari has announced that works will start soon to build such complexes, which can also be named as "highway village" allowing locals to run them. "This facility can also be utilized for tourism purpose," said a ministry official.

The complexes with helipad facilities will have food courts, exclusive restaurants, internet facilities, ATM, child care facilities and rest room for short stay. The first lot of these wayside amenities will be operational in the next two years. While there will be separate complexes for car and bus users, the facilities at sites meant for truckers would be different since their requirement is different.