Govt nod for 18 new airports costing Rs 30,000 cr

The government has given in principle approval for setting up 18 airports which together are estimated to cost nearly Rs 30,000 crore.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha today said the government has granted "in principle" approval for the greenfield airports.

Citing information provided by developers, the total estimated cost for setting up of the 18 airports "comes out to Rs 30,000 crore (approximately)", Sinha said.

"As regards construction of new greenfield airports, execution of project including finalisation of project cost and financing arrangement is the sole responsibility of the respective airport promoters," he said, as per an official release.

The 18 airports which have received in principle nod for construction include Mopa (Goa), Navi Mumbai, Shirdi and Sindhudurg (Maharashtra), Bijapur, Gulbarga, Hasan and Shimoga (Karnataka), Kannur (Kerala), Pakyong (Sikkim), Karaikal (Puducherry), Dholera (Gujarat) and Bhogapuram (Andhra Pradesh).

Besides, "site clearance" has been given to 5 greenfield airports. They are Machiwara, Ludhiana Airport (Punjab), Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, Alwar in Rajasthan and Kothagudem in Telangana.

The information was given by Sinha in a written reply in Rajya Sabha, as per the release.