AAI to hike spending on airport modernisation by 250 %
With Airports Authority of India planning to hike its expenditure on modernising airports by a whopping 250 per cent in the 11th Plan, a parliamentary committee has asked it to ensure that there is no cost and time overrun in implementation of the...
The AAI has informed the Committee on Public Undertakings (COPU) that it proposed to spend over Rs 12,417 crore in the 11th Plan compared with Rs 3,535 crore in the 10th Plan, an increase of almost 250 per cent.
Noting that AAI had set up a project management cell to assess the progress of its projects, the COPU, headed by CPI(M) leader Rupchand Pal, recommended that this cell should "periodically assess the work of the ongoing projects so as to ensure that there is no cost and time overrun" in their implementation.
Regretting that AAI had taken "more than a decade" to prepare and finalise its corporate plan, it said the profit- making public sector unit had to "resort to segmented approach to the issues arising from time to time rather than having a holistic approach."
Observing that only 12 out of 90 operational airports were profit-making, the COPU emphasised that adequate steps be taken to augment the share of non-traffic revenue of airports to strengthen the existing infrastructure.
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