Central nod for 21 greenfield airports across India

The 'in-principle' approved 21 greenfield airports will be set up in Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, MP, UP, Gujarat, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, WB, Sikkim, Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh

New Delhi, Dec 09: The Central government has given 'in-principal' approval for the setting up of twenty-one greenfield airports across the country in Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Sikkim, Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation VK Singh informed the Lok Sabha about it in a written reply to a question on Thursday.

The minister, in the reply, said these airports will be set up in 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, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Out of these, 9 Greenfield airports - Durgapur, Shirdi, Kannur, Pakyong, Kalaburagi, Orvakal (Kurnool), Sindhudurg, Kushinagar and Donyi Polo, Itanagar have been operationalized.

The statement further said that the Central government has granted 'in-principle' approval for the development of two greenfield airports at Hirasar (Rajkot) and Dholera (Ahmedabad) in Gujarat.

The state government has collaborated with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for the development of the Hirasar airport at a project cost of Rs 1405 crore.

The statement said as regards the development of Dholera Greenfield Airport at a project cost of Rs 1305 crore, a joint venture company comprising AAI, Government of Gujarat (GoG) and National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT) holding equity in the ratio of 51:33:16 respectively has been formed to oversee its implementation.

Development of a Greenfield airport is governed under the Greenfield Airports (GFA) Policy, 2008.

As per the policy, a state government or an airport developer, willing to establish an airport, is required to send a proposal to the Ministry of Civil Aviation for a 2-stage approval, which include 'site-clearance' followed by 'in-principle' approval. Such proposals are considered by MoCA as per the procedure stipulated in the GFA Policy.

The responsibility of the implementation of airport projects including funding of the projects rests with the airport developer concerned including the respective state government (in case the state government is the project proponent).