Tag Archives: lok sabha

The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021, passed by the Lok Sabha, seeks to amend the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act, 2008. The bill proposes to amend the definition of ‘major airport’ so as to extend its scope to determine the tariff for a ‘group of airports’ also, which will encourage development of smaller airports.

Airport Authority of India (AAI)’s 94 airports incurred losses in the financial year 2017-18, informed Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha recently. “The losses are mainly due to low revenue generation to meet the total expenditure of the respective airports,“ said Prabhu while citing the reason. AAI owns and manages 129 airports around the country. He further said that the authority has taken steps to enhance aeronautical revenue in the form of increase in tarrif at non-major airports and measures for commercial exploitation at some airports to increase the revenue and to reduce losses.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Government of India (GoI), has granted ‘in principle’ approval for setting up of 18 Greenfield Airports in the country. The list of these airport along with the estimated cost is: Mopa in Goa (approx. Rs. 3100 cr), Navi Mumbai (approx. Rs. 16704 cr), Shirdi (approx. Rs. 320.54 cr) and Sindhudurg (approx. Rs. 520 cr) in Maharashtra, Bijapur (approx. Rs. 150 cr), Gulbarga (approx. Rs. 13.78 cr in initial phase), Hasan (approx. Rs. 592 cr) and Shimoga (approx. Rs. 38.91 cr) in Karnataka, Kannur in Kerala (approx. Rs. 1892 cr), Durgapur in West Bengal (approx. Rs. 670 cr), Dabra in Madhya Pradesh (approx. Rs. 200 cr), Pakyong in Sikkim (approx. Rs. 553.53 cr), Karaikal in Puducherry (approx. Rs.170 cr), Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh (approx. Rs. 448 cr), Dholera in Gujarat (approx. Rs. 1712 cr) and Dagadarthi Mendal, Nellore Dist. (approx. Rs. 293 cr), Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram District near Visakhapatnam (approx. Rs. 2260 cr) and Oravakallu in Kurnool District (approx. Rs. 200 cr), Andhra Pradesh. The timeline for construction of airport projects depends upon many factors such as land acquisition, availability of mandatory clearances, financial closure, etc. by the individual operator. This information was given by the Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha. The construction of airport project depends upon many factors such as land acquisition, availability of mandatory clearances, financial closure, etc. by the individual operator. The State Government of Maharashtra has completed the tendering process and MIAL is the highest bidder.

While presenting the General Budget 2016-17 in Lok Sabha, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that ‘Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat’ programme will be launched to link states and districts in an annual programme that connects people though exchanges in areas of language, trade, culture, travel and tourism. He added that to strengthen understanding of each other, it is proposed to create a closer engagement between states and districts in a structured manner.