The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for leasing out three airports of Airports Authority of India (AAI) through Public-Private Partnership (PPP). The three airports approved are Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram.
Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for leasing out three airports of Airports Authority of India (AAI) through Public-Private Partnership (PPP). The three airports approved are Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram, said Union ministers Prakash Javadekar and Jitendra Singh. The airports will be given on a lease period of 50 years.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) will get ₹1,070 crore upfront from handing over the airports for redevelopment. This money will be used to develop airports in smaller cities, added Javadekar.
The Modi government had earlier decided to privatise operations of 12 airports of the Airport Authority of India (AAI). The decision to privatise six airports of Ahmedabad, Mangalore, Lucknow, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram, and Jaipur was taken in the first phase.
Adani Enterprises got all these airports after a competitive bidding process in February 2019. The Group signed the concessionaire agreement with the AAI for three airports – Ahmedabad, Mangaluru, and Lucknow – on February 14, 2020. However, it is yet to sign the concessionaire agreement for the other three airports.
The entire bidding process was carried out under the directions of Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS) which consisted of representatives of NITI Aayog, Department of Expenditure and Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) of Ministry of Finance (MoF).
Elaborating more on this step, civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, “Public-Private partnership at these airports will not only help in the delivery of efficient and quality services to the air passengers but will also help Airports Authority of India in enhancing its revenues and focusing on developing more airports in Tier II and Tier III regions.”
