The Hindu Business Line : Bengal's plan on greenfield airport welcomed

What they say
The Tamil Nadu Government wanted Chennai airport modernised with private participation.
The West Bengal Government insisted that the work should be done solely by the Airports Authority of India.

THE UNION MINISTER for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, at a press conference in Kolkata on Monday. — A. Roy Chowdhury

Kolkata , Sept. 11

Within the next month a final decision will be taken on the way Chennai and Kolkata airports will be modernised, according to Mr Praful Patel, Union Civil Aviation Minister.

As against his earlier stance, Mr Patel also welcomed the West Bengal Government's initiative in setting up a greenfield airport but added that it should not be at the cost of the existing one.

He was addressing a press conference after attending a parliamentary consultative committee meeting. According to him, the views of individual State governments and other stakeholders would be considered before taking a decision on airport modernisation.

He said that while the Tamil Nadu Government wanted Chennai airport modernised with private participation, , the West Bengal Government had insisted that the work should be done solely by Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Final call

"We would be having wide ranging consultation to take the matter forward.

A final decision would be taken within a month because the Prime Minister wants to have these two airports modernised as fast as possible," Mr Patel said.

Despite repeated queries he did not give his Ministry's views on this matter.

Instead he said that the individual State Government's views were extremely important because without their cooperation it would be impossible to go ahead.

Greenfield airport

Regarding the proposal for a greenfield airport near Kolkata, the Minister said the UPA Government welcomed all such projects but doubted whether one was needed in the region.

"From our end there is no opposition but Dum Dum airport has to remain operational. We will have to find out whether it is financially viable because the existing airport would be modernised and then it would be able to handle more traffic," he said.

The consultative committee talked about three new airports in the North Eastern region. These are at Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and at Kohima in Nagaland. Techno-feasibility report of the Sikkim airport is currently being prepared.

"Apart from AAI, financial support is likely to come from the Planning Commission and the North Eastern Council," he said.

air connectivity

The issue of air connectivity was also discussed.

The Minister said seat availability was increasing because more private airlines had started operations in this sector.

Meanwhile, Indian Airlines has decided to make Kolkata the central maintenance hub for the new A319 aircrafts it is buying from Airbus.

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