The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday approved the leasing out of six airports-Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru for operation, management and development under the Public Private Partnership (PPP).
“The cabinet provided “in-principle” approval for leasing out the airports for operation, management and development under PPP through Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC),” an official statement said.
It also approved Constitution of an Empowered Group of Secretaries headed by CEO, NITI Aayog with Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs and Secretary, Department of Expenditure to decide on any issue falling beyond the scope of PPPAC.
Currently, the airports being managed under the PPP model include Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Cochin.
The PPP airports in India have been ranked among the top 5 in their respective categories by the Airports Council International (ACI) in terms of Airport Service Quality (ASQ).
“While these PPP experiments have helped create world class airports, it has also helped AAI (Airports Authority of India) in enhancing its revenues and focusing on developing airports and air navigation infrastructure in the rest of the country,” it said.
According to the Civil Aviation Ministry statement, PPP in infrastructure projects brings efficiency in service delivery, expertise, enterprise and professionalism apart from harnessing the needed investments in the public sector.
The decision to lease the airports under the PPP model is expected to enhance the revenue to AAI and increase the economic development in the concerned areas in terms of job creation and related infrastructure.
