The Union cabinet
gave its approval for privatization of the management of six airports,
including those in Jaipur and Ahmedabad. The government’s experience of
managing five airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kochi and Hyderabad through
private participation has been encouraging and has led it to adopt a similar
method in managing six more airports.
The Union cabinet has
given... “in-principle approval for leasing out six airports of AAI viz. Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow,
Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru for operation, management and
development under public-private partnership through (the) Public Private
Partnership Appraisal Committee”.
Private participation
in infrastructure projects brings efficiency in service delivery, expertise,
enterprise and professionalism, apart from harnessing the investments in the
public sector, according to a cabinet statement.
PPP in airport
management has helped the government raise sizeable revenue and utilize the
model for better air connectivity elsewhere in the country, the government
said. It hopes the move will bring more foreign investment into airport
infrastructure. However, it is not immediately clear whether the private
players in the six airports that are to be jointly managed will get land
parcels for real estate development beyond aviation requirements. The
government also set up an empowered committee of secretaries to oversee the
process.
