The Civil Aviation Ministry will start the development of five low-cost airports and award management contracts of four airports to private operators in the current financial year.
The targets were set in a meeting between secretaries of ministries and Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on 26 July, 2014.
It was decided at the meeting to start work on five of the 50 low cost airports proposed by the Union Government. The locations for the projects are yet to be finalised.
The process to award management contracts at airports in Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Guwahati, Jaipur and Ahmedabad to private operators was initiated last year. However, the process had to be stalled earlier this year due to the Assembly elections. Now, it has been decided that the management contracts of at least four of these six airports will be awarded to private operators during 2014-15.
The progress of the projects will be reviewed by the PM at a meeting next month.
The outlay for the civil aviation ministry for 2014-15 is Rs 934 crore.