• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Rahul Wadke

Mumbai , Jan. 17

The State Government has decided to handover 14 small airports and airstrips in the State to private parties for development and maintenance.

Mr Ashok Chavan, Minister for Industries and Chairman of MIDC, told Business Line that tenders for privatising these airports would be invited soon.

Currently, these airports are under the control of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC).

Mr Chavan said that Airports Authority of India (AAI) would advise MIDC on the privatisation plan. Mumbai airport privatisation will serve as a model for the MIDC plan.

Facilities

These airports will also have cargo-handling facilities. With the current boom in retailing, large companies can airlift agri-produce through these airports, Mr Chavan said.

Similarly, as Mumbai airport is getting crowded, hangar facilities could be developed at these small airports for repair and maintenance of aircrafts.

Mr Rajiv Jalota, CEO of MIDC, said that the development of the airports would be on the public private partnership model. Airports at Kolhapur, Latur, and Yavatmal have significant traffic but other airports such as Ratnagiri, Nanded, Osmanabad, Sholapur, Karad, Sangli, Amravati, Gondia and Baramati are being developed.

Chakan (near Pune) and Sindhudurg were under construction, he said.

Mr Chavan said that the Coast Guard has also shown interest in the Ratnagiri airport.

"Therefore we are working out ways in which the facility can be shared.

The Sindhudurg airport is primarily being developed to tap the tourism potential of that area," he said.

Mr Chavan said that State Government was also formulating a new policy for agricultural produce processing for the State.

The policy is aimed at giving a big boost to the food-processing sector.

More Stories on : Infrastructure | Policy | Airlines | Maharashtra

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Satyam emergency services set to cover whole of AP

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line