Guwahati: The Assam government has requested the civil aviation ministry to tweak the regional connectivity scheme in order to connect Guwahati with the capitals of at least seven Southeast Asian countries.

"Assam shares more than 4,800km of border with Bangladesh and Bhutan and is situated close to many Southeast Asian nations. Since our target is to capture the market of nearly 80 crore people in Southeast Asia, we require a boost to our air connectivity. But the lack of direct flights is a constraint and we have been trying to raise the issue with the civil aviation ministry. Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal recently requested the ministry to extend the Rs 2,500 slab under the Udan scheme from 500km to 2,000km," additional chief secretary (industry and commerce) Ravi Capoor said.

Under Udan (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik), the Centre will bear 80 per cent of the viability gap funding for underserved airports in the rest of the country and 90 per cent for the Northeast and Union Territories.

The ministry had said that incentives/concessions under the scheme were necessary as the Centre had put a cap of Rs 2,500 for an hour of air travel or 500km aerial distance. 

Guwahati only has a direct flight to Thimphu (Bhutan) at present while another connecting Dhaka is likely to start soon.

Capoor said the chief minister also requested external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj for steps to open consulate offices of at least 10 Southeast Asian countries in Guwahati.

Bangladesh and Bhutan have consulate offices here at present.

Sonowal had on Tuesday told local businessmen during a meeting that his government would construct two 65-storeyed trade centres here akin to the World Trade Centre in the US.

"The Southeast Asian countries will be provided space for their consulate offices at the trade centre. International trade should be our future as desired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Northeast can provide new energy to the country's growth by becoming the hub of business with Asean," he had said.

N.N. Dutta, chairman and managing director of Down Town Hospital and Assam Down Town University, said opening of consulate offices was necessary in order to address the visa problems and attract business from countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar.