State govt to rope in private developers for new airports

MUMBAI: The state government has decided to adopt public-private partnership (PPP) model for building airports in seven cities across the state. The government appointed nodal agency MADC (Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation) has recently shortlisted consultants for the job.

The MADC will hold a cash-less equity in SPVs that will be formed to complete these projects. Of the seven proposed airports, the one at Shirdi will be a greenfield venture, while in other cities the existing airstrips would be converted into airports.

Besides Shirdi, development of new airports have been planned for cities like Solapur, Phaltan, Dhule, Karad, Jalgaon and Chandrapur. Airports in Solapur and Jalgaon will be taken up first.

Under the PPP model, MADC will give land to private players to build the airport on behalf of the state government. The developers will also run airports. MADC’s equity in the JV companies formed to develop airports would equal the amount the land provided for the airport.

According to government officials, many airlines are interested in flying to these regional destinations. They believe, smaller aircraft with 48 to 52 passenger capacity would fly to these cities. Officials said that almost every airline is willing to start services to Shirdi as traffic to this temple town is expected to be rise.

The MADC has appointed L&T Ramboll as consultant for the project. The consultant will have to submit its report within three months. MADC has also shortlisted six consultants and asked them to come up with their financial offers for these airports. They are expected to submit different proposals as to how MADC should go about it.

In Shirdi, MADC has already selected a barren land at a village called Kakdi, about 15 km from the temple town and the grampanchayat of that village has supported the airport project. The airport here is expected to become operational by October 2009.

MADC is building an international airport and a special economic zone in Nagpur along with a much publicised cargo hub at Nagpur.