INVESTMENT IN THE AIRPORT SECTOR IN INDIA

The airport sector in India is set to see an investment of about Rs 1 lakh crore over a period of five years. The investments would be made in upgrading existing infrastructure at airports and also building Greenfield airports by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) as well as some private companies. “To ensure an infrastructure to facilitate a billion trips, there is going to be an investment of 5 to 6 lakh crore. In the next five years, we will see an investment of about 1 lakh crore,” said Jayant Sinha, the Minister of State, Civil Aviation. The Union Cabinet has already approved upgrade of existing airports in the cities of Chennai, Lucknow and Guwahati. These projects will be implemented by the AAI at a cost of over 5,082 crore. “Of the total amount, about 60 per cent will be raised from the debt market and the rest will be from our funds. We will be following the same principle for the next five years too and raise about 60 per cent of the 21,000 crore to be invested by us in the next five years,” said G.P. Mohapatra Chairman, AAI. The project will be incorporating a new design philosophy in the Chennai, Guwahati and Lucknow airports. The interior design of these terminals will be inspired by the local culture of the cities. The project will be completed by 2021.