NEW DELHI: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has planned a capital expenditure (capex) of more than Rs 5,000 crore for the current financial year, a top government official told this newspaper.
The total outlay could exceed the last year’s capex of Rs 5,125 crore, he said, while adding that most of the expenditure will be met through internal sources. Post-Covid, there has been a surge in air traffic, and the capex will help those airlines, which are planning to add more planes this fiscal and the next year, the official stated.
“We will use the funds for the two Greenfield airports currently being constructed by the AAI- Hirasar, Rajkot and Dholera in Gujarat. We expect the Rajkot project will complete by December 2023, while the one in Dholera will be done by 2025,” the official cited above said. He further added that the fund will also be used for the ongoing projects and air navigation services (ANS) which require state-of-art technology like radar, satellite, ATC towers.
Currently, the AAI is revamping the airports in Kanpur, Tezu, Port Blair, Ayodhya, Surat, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Kolhapur, Dehradun Phase II, Pune, Gorakhpur, Darbhanga, Saharanpur, Fursatganj, Trichy, Tuticorn, Rewa, Leh, Goa, Vijayawada, Imphal, Patna and Chennai Phase-II.
“Most of the work will be completed by FY24 except the expansionary plans in Vijayawada, Goa, Imphal, Patna and Chennai Phase II by FY25,’ the official added. “We are making this significant investment to bring about transformation in the Indian aviation industry. We aim to enhance passenger experience and increase airport capacity. AAI’s sovereign function is air navigation services which require state-of-art technology and huge investments,” the official said.