By Aritra Banerjee
Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today, highlighted the following information: Airports Modernisation is a continuous process and is undertaken by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and other Airport Developers from time to time depending on the availability of land, commercial viability, socio-economic considerations, traffic demand/ willingness of airlines to operate to/from such airports. The Airport Authority of India (AAI) and other Airport Developers have targeted capital outlay of approximately Rs. 91,000 crore in the airport sector in the next five years for expansion and modification of existing terminals, new terminals, and strengthening runways, among other activities.
Under the Greenfield Airports Policy-2008, the Government of India has so far accorded ‘in-principle’ approval for setting up of 21 Greenfield Airports across the country, namely Mopa in Goa, Navi Mumbai, Shirdi and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra, Kalaburagi, Bijapur, Hassan and Shimoga in Karnataka, Datia (Gwalior) in Madhya Pradesh, Kushinagar and Noida (Jewar) in Uttar Pradesh, Dholera and Hirasar in Gujarat, Karaikal in Puducherry, Dagadarthi, Bhogapuram and Oravakal in Andhra Pradesh, Durgapur in West Bengal, Pakyong in Sikkim, Kannur in Kerala and Hollongi (Itanagar) in Arunachal Pradesh. Out of these, eight airports, namely Durgapur, Shirdi, Sindhudurg, Pakyong, Kannur, Kalaburagi, Oravakal and Kushinagar, have been operationalised.
In Bihar, AAI had projected a land requirement of 108 acres to develop a Civil Enclave at Bihta Airport. The State Government of Bihar has already handed over the land (108 acres) to AAI. However, AAI has projected an additional land requirement of 191.5 acres for runway extension & installation of approach light and 8 acres for city side development to accommodate wide-bodied aircraft for international operations at the airport. The additional land at Bihta airport is yet to be handed over to AAI by the State Government. In case of non-availability of land, the State Government needs to identify an alternate site to construct a Greenfield airport meeting the requirements for the operation of international flights.