Chennai, Kolkata airports to be upgraded

Govt likely to stick to existing model of privatisation

Close on the heels of the modernisation plans for Delhi and Mumbai airports, the government is charting out plans to modernise and restructure four more airports including Chennai and Kolkata. The modernisation process will be set in motion by early 2005.

Senior government officials pointed out that although the modalities of restructuring are yet to be finalised, they are likely to favour the existing model of privatisation. Civil aviation minister Praful Patel today met communications and IT minister Dayanidhi Maran on the issue of upgrading Chennai airport.

Officials also said that the government would soon decide as to which two other airports are to be modernised and restructured. Some of the airports which will be considered are Ahemedabad, Nagpur and Pune. The government is also in the process of developing new airports at Bangalore and Hyderabad in partnership with the private sector.

"We are looking at modernising and upgrading other metro airports as well. This is aimed at bringing them up to global standards," said a civil aviation ministry official.

In the subsequent phase, the government plans to upgrade the non metro airports by December 2006. However, this will be undertaken by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

As a part of this project, the government will take steps to modernise and upgrade the city side terminals of about ten airports initially. Expression of interest to appoint global technical advisors have been called for this. This project is expected to cost Rs 5000 crore.

The ministry plans to seek loans from the Rs 40,000-crore corpus being created by the inter-institutional group (IIG). The Airports Authority of India (AAI) would float bonds for serving the proposed loan.

The airports under consideration of the government in the third phase include Jaipur, Udaipur, Lucknow, Bhuba-neswar, Trivandrum amongst others. As per the plans of the government the infrastructure in these airports will be upgraded to international levels.

Besides this, steps will also be taken to improve facilities to handle additional traffic as well as larger aircraft at these airports. In the initial phase, the government plans to cover international airports.

In the subsequent stages, other airports will also be upgraded.

It is also expected that the government will encourage greenfield airports at locations that have potential for air transport. The government will also take a close look at airstrips in various parts of the country which require improvement to boost tourist traffic.

Government officials also said that there will not be any change in the greenfield airport policy considering the fact that the foreign direct invest limit in the aviation sector has been capped at 49 per cent. In greenfield airports, foreign investment can be as much as 74 per cent.