Around Rs 36,000 Crore To Be Invested For Development Of New Greenfield Airports Across India Under PPP Mode: Govt

Around Rs 36,000 crore have been planned for investment in the development of new greenfield airports across the country under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode, the government informed the Parliament on Monday (29 November).

The Centre has accorded 'in-principle' approval for setting up of 21 greenfield airports across the country, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation General (Retired) V K Singh said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

So far, eight greenfield airports namely, Shirdi in Maharashtra, Durgapur in West Bengal, Pakyong in Sikkim, Kannur in Kerala, Orvakal in Andhra Pradesh, Kalaburagi in Karnataka, Sindhudurg in Maharashtra and Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh have been operationalised, the minister said.

The minister further informed that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has taken up developmental projects worth around Rs 25,000 crore over the next five years for expansion and modification of existing terminals, new terminals, expansion or strengthening of existing runways, aprons, air navigation services, control towers, technical blocks etc.

He added that three PPP airports at Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru have undertaken developmental projects to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore by 2025.

The minister also said that under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), also known as the Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) Scheme, as on 24 Nov 2021, 393 routes have commenced connecting 62 unserved and underserved airports, including two water aerodromes and six heliports.