Centre to renovate 56 airports in 18 months

31 helipads to be also refurbished to meet requirements

In an infrastructure boost for the UDAN scheme, the Centre plans to finish renovating 56 airports and 31 helipads in the next 18 months for them to meet the licensing requirements to ply flights under the UDAN scheme, a senior official said here on Wednesday.

“The finance minister, in his 2017 budget speech, had allocated `4,500 crore for the renovation of the airports so that they meet the licensing requirements. Over the next year and half, we are hopeful that the we’ll be able to complete renovating 56 airports and 31 helipads for them to meet the requirements,” the ministry of civil aviation joint secretary Usha Padhee said

Ms Padhee, who was in Hyderabad for the BizAVIndia 2018 summit organised by industry body BAOA, added, “About 20 such airports have already been renovated and have been given the go ahead. The remaining will soon be finished.”

When asked about the changes these airports and helipad had gone through, she said, “Most of them are unserved or undeserved and required changes such as visibility clearance or needed an air traffic control building to get the requisite permissions.”

Ms Padhee added, “Considering the renovations, the budget allotted is sufficient. The surplus may be used to renovate additional airports and helipads.”

The UDAN RCS (Regional Connectivity Scheme), a pet scheme of Narendra Modi, was launched in October 2016 as a major push to develop the regional aviation market.

In an unrelated development, a Parliamentary panel urged the civil aviation ministry to “actively pursue” efforts to get more funds.

In the latest Budget, the ministry has been allocated `6,602.86 crore, that includes `4,469.50 crore towards purchase of two new aircraft for VVIP flights.

Once that amount is deducted, then the allocation would be only `2,133.36 crore, which is lower than the revised budget estimate of `2,710.30 crore for the current fiscal (2017-18).

The issue of lower allocation for the ministry has been flagged by the Parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism and culture.