BHUBANESWAR: Centre has decided to develop six airports including the Biju Patnaik International Airport at Bhubaneswar in public private partnership (PPP) mode. Minister of State for Civil Aviation VK Singh informed this in Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question from BJD MP Subash Singh.
The Minister said that the board of Airports Authority of India (AAI) approved leasing out of six airports at Bhubaneswar, Varanasi, Amritsar, Raipur, Indore and Trichy for undertaking operations, management and development through PPP mode in its 190th meeting on September 5, 2019.
The AAI had earlier in 2018-19 and 2006 leased out airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru for development in PPP mode. The Minister said that the National Civil Aviation Policy, 2016 aims to encourage development of airports by state governments, private sector or in the PPP mode.
Welcoming the decision, Singh said that as Odisha is going to be an international tourist destination, the Biju Patnaik international airport at Bhubaneswar needs to be developed in line with the airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore.