Govt drops plan for privatisation of airports

News:

• The government has scrapped the privatisation of four major airports, those at Chennai, Kolkata, Jaipur and Ahmedabad.
• While the airports at Chennai and Kolkata will continue to remain under the complete control of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), fresh bids for the Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports will be invited from private players. These bids, however, would only be for operation and maintenance contracts.
• The public-private partnership (PPP) model had envisaged handing over the operations, management and development of these airports to successful bidders.
• The government’s plan might come as a setback to the private sector, as companies such as GMR Airports, GVK Group and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone had expressed interest in running these airports under the PPP model.
• The NDA government has also put on hold the UPA government’s ambitious plan to develop 50 low-cost airports in non-metro cities, citing feasibility issues. Barring the development of low-cost airports in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh and Odisha, other such plans have been put into cold storage.

Source:BS