The Central government has given ‘in-principal’ approval for the construction 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 given the Gujarat State Government ‘In-Principle’ approval for the development of two Greenfield Airports at Hirasar (Rajkot) and Dholera (Ahmedabad).
The State Government has partnered with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to develop the Hirasar airport, which will cost Rs 1405 crore.
A Joint Venture Company comprised of AAI, the Government of Gujarat, and the National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT) holding equity in the ratio of 51:33:16 has been formed to oversee the development of Dholera Greenfield Airport at a project cost of Rs 1305 crore.
Greenfield airport development is governed under Greenfield Airports (GFA) Policy, 2008.
According to Policy, State Government or an Airport Developer seeking to establish an airport must submit a proposal to the Ministry of Civil Aviation for two-stage approval, namely ‘Site-Clearance’ and ‘In-Principle’ approval. Such proposals are considered by MoCA in accordance with the GFA Policy.