The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture has opined that investing "huge money" for modernisation of the Mumbai and Delhi airports could be wasteful, and has recommended that the construction of greenfield airports with more capacity might be a better alternative, in terms of investment needed.

The Committee feels that there are certain inherent technological constraints while restructuring an existing structure, particularly in Mumbai airport and the option of going in for a new greenfield airport rather than proposed modernisation of Mumbai airport was more prudent.

The Committee report, which was tabled in Parliament on 23 August 2005, has also recommended that the Government explore the possibility of having a greenfield airport in Delhi.

The Committee's report stated that some investment towards augmenting capacity will have to be made to address the immediate exigencies of the situation till such time as a greenfield airport can come up in Mumbai.

The Committee has also expressed the opinion that given the growth of the aviation sector, the existing infrastructure in Delhi airport also possesses inherent lacuna and is inadequate to handle the projected future growth.

It has therefore recommended that the Government explore the possibility of having a greenfield airport in the national capital also.

The report also noted that the proposals regarding the modernisation and restructuring of Delhi and Mumbai has been lingering for a "fairly long period" and the Government has not been able to come up with any concrete plan for it.

Also See:

Mumbai-Delhi airport modernisation: Contracts by November 2005 (01-Jul-05)

Full details of Mumbai-Delhi airport modernisation project

mumdel2