A planned airport in Falam, the first to service remote Chin State, is planned to be open in September 2020, according to a report in the Myanmar Times, citing an official from Myanmar’s Civil Aviation Department (CAD). Construction of the airport, which is located in the north of the state, began in 2016-17 and had originally been scheduled for 2021-22. However, the article said that State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint “gave instructions” last month for the earlier deadline to be put in place. Ye Htut Aung, deputy director general of the CAD, said that an extra MMK 10 billion, on top of the current budget of MMK 5 billion, will be required to complete the project early. Chin State has significant tourism potential, but poor infrastructure across the state makes it a challenging place for many visitors to get to. Some of the state’s most attractive tourism destinations include the remote hills of northern Chin, Nat Ma Taung National Park, and Rih Lake, on the Myanmar-India border. The government hopes that an airport providing the state with direct access to the rest of the country will significantly develop the economy there.