NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved upgrade of existing airports in Chennai, Lucknow and Guwahati. These projects will be implemented by state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) at acost of more than Rs 5,082 crore.
“Of the total amount, about 60% will be raised from the debt market and the rest will be from our funds. We will be following the same principle for the next five years too, and raise about 60% of the Rs 21,000 crore to be invested by us,” AAI Chairman GP Mohapatra said.
The authority is already in the process of raising about Rs 1,500 crore from the debt market and may raise another Rs 2,000 crore in this fiscal year.
It will be implementing a new design philosophy in the Chennai, Guwahati and Lucknow airports. The interior design of these terminals will be inspired by the local culture of the cities. The project will be completed by 2021.
Later, speaking to reporters, aviation minister Jayant Sinha said airport sector in India is set to see Rs 1 lakh crore of investments in the next five years to upgrade existing infrastructure and build new facilities by AAI and private companies, “To ensure an infrastructure that will facilitate a billion trips, there is going to be an investment of Rs 5-6 lakh crore (over 15 years). In the next five years, we will see an investment of about Rs 1 lakh crore in the airport sector,” Sinha told reporters here on Wednesday.
Of the total to be invested in the next five years, about Rs 21,000 crore will be by AAI, another Rs 25,000 crore in upgrading infrastructure at airports like Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru that are run by private operators.
Another about Rs 50,000 crore is estimated to be invested in new airports in Mumbai, Goa, Jewar in Greater Noida, Pune, Bhogapuram in Andhra Pradesh and Dholera in Gujarat.