BHUBANESWAR: Minister of state for civil aviation VK Singh told the Rajya Sabha that the Centre has approved leasing of the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) Bhubaneswar for their operations, management and development through public private partnership (PPP) mode.
While replying to a question of Rajya Sabha member Sujeet Kumar, the minister said the Airports Authority India (AAI) Board in its 190th meeting held on September 5, 2019 has approved leasing of six airports namely Bhubaneswar in Odisha, Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Amritsar in Punjab, Raipur in Chhattisgarh, Indore in Madhya Pradesh and Trichy in Tamil Nadu for their operations management and development through PPP.
He said in 2006, AAI had leased out Delhi airport in the Union territory of Delhi and Mumbai airport in Maharashtra for operation management and development of these airports under PPP. In 2018-19, six more airports such as Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Jaipur in Rajasthan, Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, Guwahati in Assam, Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala and Mangaluru in Karnataka were awarded under PPP by AAI, he added.
Singh said Greenfield Airport Policy was approved in the year 2018 paving the way for development of greenfield airports either by government or a private entity or under PPP mode. National Civil Aviation Policy 2016 also emphasizes development of airports through PPP route, he added.
The policy states that ministry of civil aviation will continue to encourage development of airports by the state governments or the private sector or in PPP mode. “It has thus been the policy of the Centre to call for investment from private sector in the field of infrastructure including aviation. The Centre has put special emphasis on the development of airports through private participation,” read the reply of the minister.
In October 2013, The Union Cabinet had given approval for declaring Bhubaneswar airport as international airport.
