Govt clears pact with Singapore on Jaipur, Ahmedabad airports

New Delhi, Jan 6: Government today cleared a pact which will pave the way for a Singapore government agency to operate and maintain Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) had, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Singapore last November, signed the MoU to co-operate in planning and development of Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports besides other aspects including traffic and commercial development, service quality and operations and management.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has today given its ex-post facto approval to the MoU between the AAI and SCE, an official statement said. Singapore has nominated Changi Airport for the project and a team is expected to visit the two airports sometime this month.

The visit would follow discussions on terms and conditions for the two parties to work together, AAI Chairman R K Srivastava had said late last month. The city side and airside of Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports, however, will continue to be managed directly by AAI.

Globally, limited O&M contract models are prevalent for the entire airport operations, the statement said adding the AAI has no previous experience in awarding O&M contract model of terminal buildings to other entities.

In order to implement the decision, it was necessary to ensure that a suitable entity be engaged for undertaking the O&M contract at Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports, the statement said. In 2014-15, Ahmedabad airport handled 5.05 million passengers, out of which 1.22 million were international travellers.

During the same, Jaipur airport saw 2.20 million passengers and out of them, 0.33 million were overseas people. By 2023-24, Ahmedabad is expected to see a total of 6.77 million passengers while that at Jaipur is anticipated to be 3.75 million.

PTI