The Maharashtra government has received an expression of interest from private and foreign sovereign entities to operate at least five airports in the State. They include a bid from the Malaysian Government which has agreed to invest ₹1,500 crore to take over Shirdi airport’s operations.

“We have started work on commercialising five airports at Kolhapur, Solapur, Shirdi, Amravati and Jalgaon. We have got proposals from certain private players who want to start these routes. We are working with them,” Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told BusinessLine .

With 21 airports in the State, Maharashtra has the highest number of flying destinations in the country, yet only four are commercially open because of a lack of funds. Fadnavis is now trying to change that with the help of private investments.

He said the State is receiving a lot of international bids to take up the operations of these airports. “Shirdi airport is where the Malaysian government has come forward and they want to invest ₹1,500 crore and take over all operations,” he said.

Fadnavis, who is also the Chairman of the Maharashtra Airport Development company, which is developing the Multi-modal International (Cargo) Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) project, is clearing roadblocks to start an international airport and a cargo terminal at MIHAN.

The State government invested ₹1,000 crore in SEZ infrastructure but land had not been acquired for the airport in the last 15 years.

“Now we have initiated the process of land acquisition and resettlement of project-affected people for the airport. In the next few months a tender for building an international airport and cargo will be issued. MIHAN’s original idea was based on distributing of cargo for which a cargo terminal is required,” Fadnavis said.

Waste of resources The Chief Minister acknowledged that the defunct airports have been a waste of infrastructure resources and need to be commercialised. However, the government will not make any fresh investments in the airports until it is sure of their commercial viability, he said.

“It is not proper infrastructure but we don’t want to invest more right now. So, we are finding partners.”

Fadnavis said he’s also in talks with Reliance (ADAG) to fulfil its commitment on commercialising five airports at Latur, Osmanabad, Nanded, Yavatmal and Baramati, which it acquired after emerging the highest bidder, quoting ₹63 crore in 2009. The airports are situated on 601 hectares of land.

Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar recently said Reliance appeared to be reluctant to develop the airports since “the projects didn’t move a single inch even six years after the contract”. He said he had asked the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation to take back possession of the land from Reliance.

However, Fadnavis said he is still in talks with the company to start work.

“Recently, when I met Anil Ambani, I told him since you have taken those airports, we want you to develop them,” he said.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW