Centre accords 'in-principle' approval for 21 greenfield airports

The Central government has accorded 'in-principal' approval for the setting up of 21 greenfield airports across the country, said Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation Gen VK Singh on Thursday.

According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, in a written reply to Lok Sabha, Singh said these airports include Mopa in Goa, Navi Mumbai, Shirdi and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Hassan and Shivamogga in Karnataka, Dabra (Gwalior) in Madhya Pradesh, Kushinagar and Noida (Jewar) in Uttar Pradesh, Dholera and Hirasar in Gujarat, Karaikal in Puducherry, Dagadarthi, Bhogapuram and Oravakal (Kurnool) in Andhra Pradesh, Durgapur in West Bengal, Pakyong in Sikkim, Kannur in Kerala and Donyi Polo, Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh.

Out of these, 9 Greenfield airports - Durgapur, Shirdi, Kannur, Pakyong, Kalaburagi, Orvakal (Kurnool), Sindhudurg, Kushinagar and Donyi Polo, Itanagar have been operationalized.

The government has granted 'In-Principle' approval to the State Government of Gujarat for the development of two Greenfield Airports at Hirasar (Rajkot) and Dholera (Ahmedabad).

The State Government has collaborated with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for the development of the Hirasar airport at a project cost of Rs 1405 crore.

As regards the development of Dholera Greenfield Airport at a project cost of Rs 1305 crore, a Joint Venture Company comprising AAI, Government of Gujarat (GoG) and National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT) holding equity in the ratio of 51:33:16 respectively has been formed to oversee its implementation.

Development of a Greenfield airport is governed under the Greenfield Airports (GFA) Policy, 2008.

As per the Policy, a State Government or an Airport Developer, willing to establish an airport, is required to send a proposal to the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) for 2-stage approval i.e. 'Site-Clearance' followed by 'In-Principle' approval. Such proposals are considered by MoCA as per the procedure stipulated in the GFA Policy.

The responsibility of the implementation of airport projects including funding of the projects rests with the concerned airport developer including the respective State Government (in case the State Government is the project proponent).