Indian Minister of State for Civil Aviation General V K Singh has said that modernisation and upgrade work is currently underway at the country’s existing Brownfield Airports.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said that the work includes development activities at Delhi, Lucknow, Guwahati, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Mangaluru airports.
In a statement, the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation said: “Upgradation/ modernisation of airports is a continuous process and is undertaken by Airports Authority of India (AAI) and other airport operators 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 AAI and other airport operators have committed approximately Rs980bn ($11.87bn) to improve the airport sector in the country.
As part of the project, AAI will invest more than Rs250bn ($3.03bn) while the remaining will be incurred by private airport operators/developers by 2025.
Works include the construction of Greenfield Airports and new terminals, as well as activities such as existing terminals’ renovation and expansion, and runway improvements among others.
In the next five years, Greenfield Airports will be developed at Noida (Jewar) in Uttar Pradesh, Dholera and Hirasar in Gujarat, Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra, Vijayapura, Hassan and Shivamogga in Karnataka, and Bhogapuram in Andhra Pradesh.
Under the Regional Connectivity scheme (RCS)-Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) infrastructure scheme, the Indian Government also planned to develop 100 airports by next year.
