Airports Authority of India (AAI) is
planning to invest around Rs.1,500 crore to modernise at least 10 non-metro
airports in the country by 2008.
AAI is awaiting approval from
the ministry of civil aviation on the list of airports to be covered in the
first phase of the non-metro airport modernisation programme.
AAI has already identified 12 cities
which include Jaipur, Udaipur, Srinagar, Amritsar, Ambala, Thiruvananthapuram,
Vishakapatnam, Mangalore, Nagpur, Goa, Varanasi and Trichy. Out of these 12 cities identified,
ten will be modernised using the public-private partnership (PPP) model
and AAI will take care of modernisation of terminals, parking bays, taxiways and
runways.
According to the Union civil ministry,
two models for the modernisation
of non-metro airports are under discussion, one being the PPP model and the
other being a JV between a private party and the AAI.
Also see:
Upgradation
of non-metro airports to be completed by 2008 (28-Apr-06)