Bids invited for JVs on 35 non-metro airport projects

Bids are being invited from five shortlisted consultants for the selection of joint venture partners for city-side development of 35 non-metro airports, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told the Lok Sabha today.

"11 consultants had expressed their interest out of whom five were shortlisted," he said during the Question Hour.

The decision was based on the techno-economic feasibility reports of foreign and Indian consultants on the preparation of master plans, identification of development works concerning terminal buildings and air side, land use plan and commercial development for enhancement of non-aeronautical revenue for these airports, he said.

The airports listed for modernisation were Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Guwahati, Jaipur, Udaipur, Trivandrum, Lucknow, Goa, Madurai, Mangalore, Agatti, Aurangabad, Khajuraho, Rajkot, Vadodara, Bhopal, Indore, Nagpur, Vishakapatnam, Trichy, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Patna, Port Blair, Varanasi, Agartala, Dehradun, Imphal, Ranchi, Raipur, Agra, Chandigarh, Dimapur, Jammu and Pune, the union minister informed the Lok Sabha.

For the remaining 10 non-metro airports, the techno-economic feasibility study was being done by the Airports Authority of India, Praful Patel said, adding that the central government proposed to complete modernisation and expansion of these airports by 2010-2011.