Jalpaiguri, Oct. 7: The district is set to get its first helipad with the administration taking up the construction on the outskirts of town to facilitate landing of choppers with VIPs.

The helipad will come up on a vacant plot belonging to Webel near Assam More here.

A firm has been already assigned with the task of setting up the helipad.

Sources said Rs 30 lakh would be spent on the helipad that would be 21 meter long and wide.

"We have been assigned with the work of building the helipad. We have already started the preliminary work, like strengthening the ground. We have been told by the administration to finish the work within a fortnight. We will continue the work after the festivities and hope to complete the project soon," Chandra Karmakar, the contractor working on the project, said.

"We have got certain specifications from the district administration and all those would be complied with," Karmakar added.

The helipad would facilitate the movement of important dignitaries, like chief minister Mamata Banerjee and other members of the state cabinet and state government officials, administrative sources said.

"In the third week of last month, the state had sought bids from companies mentioning that the government intended to hire services of a helicopter and a twin-engine small aircraft. Construction of helipads, we believe, is a follow-up move. We have information that at least eight such helipads would come up in the state," an official said.

On September 21, the chief engineer of the West Bengal Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (WBTIDC) had issued bids for a chopper that can accommodate five persons and a small aircraft that can ferry seven to nine passengers at a time.

"It has been mentioned that one of the tentative routes of the aircraft would be Calcutta-Bagdogra-Cooch Behar-Calcutta," a source said.

A Pawan Hans chopper made a trial landing at the helipad here today.