India to invest Rs4,500 cr to develop 50 airports and airstrips

The government has approved a proposal by the ministry of civil aviation to revive 50 unserved and underserved airports and airstrips across the country at a total estimated cost of Rs4,500 crore

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday approved a proposal to revive 50 un-served / under-served airports / airstrips of the state governments, Airports Authority of India (AAI) and civil enclaves in three financial years starting from 2017-18.

Of the 50 airports and airstrips, 15 airports / airstrips each would be revived on an immediate basis during 2017-18 and 2018-19 while 20 airports / airstrips would be revived during 2019-20.

The development of these unserved and underserved airports and airstrips will help connect small cities and towns by commencement of flight operation, thereby helping to boost economic development in these areas as well as surrounding areas in terms of job creation and related infrastructure development.

The revival of airstrips and airports will be 'demand driven', depending upon firm commitment from airline operators as well as from the state governments for providing various concessions as airports will be developed without insisting on financial viability.

The announcement for making adequate provisions for revival of unserved and underserved airports was made by the finance minister in the Union Budget 2016-17.