PM to review status of infra projects today

Civil aviation ministry to apprise of progress in development of no-frills airports and airport privatisation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to hold his first review meeting of infrastructure projects with secretaries of key ministries in this segment on Wednesday.

On July 26, Planning Commission Secretary Sindhushree Khullar had coordinated a meeting of secretaries in the ministries of railways, road transport and highways, civil aviation, power, coal, renewable energy, ports & shipping, telecommunications and petroleum & natural gas. The meeting, attended by the PM, was aimed at outlining India’s infrastructure targets and achievements.

Modi had said the progress of all identified projects would be reviewed every month. The Cabinet Secretary would then work towards developing a mechanism to address possible hurdles to infrastructure development across key sectors in this segment.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, which had a target to start developing five no-frills airports and award management contracts for four airports to private operators, will outline the progress on these fronts. Through the past month, the ministry has identified the locations for the first five no-frills airports— Tezu (Arunachal Pradesh), Kishangarh (Rajasthan), Jharsuguda (Odisha), Hubli and Belgaum (Karnataka).

Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati said, “The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has developed a no-frills model airport which will provide essential services needed to operationalise the airports, without compromising safety and security in any way. This will result in low operation costs and make it viable for airlines to run their services.” He added AAI was “committed to commencing work at the five locations this financial year”.

The ministry has also determined the broad contours of the model concession agreement (MCA) for awarding management contracts at six airports --- at Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Guwahati, Ahmedabad and Jaipur. To finalise this, a meeting of an inter-ministerial group was scheduled for last week. However, it was postponed as a new secretary, V Somasundaran, assumed office at the ministry a day before the scheduled meeting.

A senior ministry official said, “For airport privatisation, we have been able to resolve most differences regarding the MCA with the Planning Commission. A meeting of the inter-ministerial group will take place when decided by the new secretary.” It is planned of the six identified airports, at least four will be awarded this financial year.

Raju also said a draft policy on remote and regional connectivity has been prepared. This, he said, was aimed at granting various concessions and incentives to airlines to fly to remote areas. “The policy is in consultation stage with stakeholders. It is proposed to create a framework which enables synergy between scheduled airlines, regional carriers and non-scheduled airlines for better penetration and connectivity to un-served and under-served airports,” he said.

A discussion paper has been prepared to give a boost to the air cargo and maintenance, repair and overhaul sectors. In this regard, the ministry is consulting stakeholders and experts to finalise guidelines and take other steps such as tax concessions. For facilitating cargo transportation, off-airport facilities have been proposed.

Raju also said the AAI had awarded a contract to develop a new terminal at the Port Blair airport, at a cost of Rs 374 crore. Additionally, sophisticated air navigation facilities are being installed at the Mumbai and Kolkata airports to enhance radar coverage in these regions.