The Indian Express | Biju Patnaik airport to be leased out in PPP mode

Dec 05,2019

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is likely to lease out six more airports, including Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here, under the public private partnership (PPP) model.

The AAI Board in its meeting held on September 5 has recommended to lease out BPIA, Amritsar, Varanasi, Indore, Raipur and Tiruchirappalli airports for operation, management and development under PPP, said Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri while replying to an unstarred question in Lok Sabha last month.

The recommendation follows recent privatisation of airports at Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati under PPP model.

The Minister had earlier said AAI will continue to provide air navigation services to the leased out airports. The AAI will also receive revenue generated from air navigation services. During the concession period, AAI will monitor the performance of concessionaire as per the provisions of the agreement.
The Government is of the opinion that the PPP project at the select airports will result in enhanced revenue to the AAI by way of upfront payment towards reimbursement of unrealised investments made so far.

The proposed PPP model is targeted at meeting the fund requirement for capacity expansion from the private sector. These projects will also bring efficiency in delivery of services, expertise, enterprise and professionalism apart from harnessing the needed investments in the public sector, the Civil Aviation Minister had said.

In another development, V V Rao was appointed new Director of BPIA and he assumed charge on Tuesday. Rao replaced S C Hota, who opted for voluntary retirement from service, sources said.