NEW DELHI, May 30 -- The Civil Aviation ministry has mooted a proposal to privatise the Chennai Airport by which the maintenance and running of new facilities set up by the Airports Authority of India will carried out under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, as is the case with Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad airports.
Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh presented the proposal for Chennai airport along with a similar plan for the Kolkata airport, both of which are in the final stages of construction but have been inordinately delayed due to multiple reasons.
Ajit Singh discussed the modalities with Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission and Gajendra Haldea, Advisor in the Planning Commission.
"The present proposal is for city side development and the maintenance and running of the recently-constructed Chennai and Kolkata airports under the PPP model. While the Planning Commission members are happy with the proposal, the Cabinet Committee of Infrastructure will have to approve it, along with the other ministries involved," an aviation ministry official said.
Along with these approvals, what Ajit Singh will also need is the approval of the two Chief Ministers of the two states. Singh is believed to be on good terms with both J Jayalalithaa and Mamata Banerjee and hence the road ahead may not be as tough.
On being contacted, AAI Chairman V P Agrawal deni-ed comment, saying the proposal was very sketchy and a final plan on the way forward was awaited. Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Zaidi, who was present at the meeting with Ahluwalia, said he was not aware of the proposal.
The new terminals at the Chennai airport have been delayed by two years now and have led to cost overruns that have pushed up the airport project outlay to '2,100 crore. Published by HT Syndication with permission from New Indian Express.
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