In an effort to boost the growth and development of civil aviation, aerospace and defence sectors, Andhra Pradesh Government has come out with a draft policy wherein it proposes to develop six new airports under the public private partnership mode.
The State currently has six operational airports at Visakhapatnam, Tirupathi, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Kadapa and Puttaparthi, together handling 1.66 million passengers and about 3,000 tonnes of cargo as of 2014-15. To provide a boost, it is proposed to develop unused airstrips at Donakonda, Nagarjunsagar on the Guntur side and Tadepalligudem.
The State has proposed to develop international greenfield airport at Bhogapuram (Vizinagaram), and no-frills airports at Dagadarthi (Nellore), Oravaku (Kurnool), Kuppam (Chittoor), Tadepalligudem (West Godavari) and Ongole (Prakasham).The policy aims to create world class aviation infrastructure that would help provide reliable and seamless air connectivity to regional, national and international destinations by 2022.
This is to be achieved by developing the aviation infrastructure and supporting infrastructure, encouraging aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities, air cargo and cold storages and setting up of airport cities and, parks and special economic zones near major airports.
In an effort to transform AP into a preferred investment destination, State Chief Minister N Chandrbabu Naidu has taken a number of initiatives, including launching of Industry Mission and coming out with sector specific policies, for automotives, and is now set to come out with aviation policy.
As a part of PPP mode projects, the State plans to extend viability gap fund (VGF) required for airports and other infrastructure.
It is proposed to set up AP Regional Airport Development Fund with an initial corpus fund of Rs 100 crore, to be provided with budgetary support.
New projects would be offered 100 per cent exemption on stamp duty for land purchase and 100 per cent reimbursement of electricity duty, underwriting specific number of airline seats, reduction of value added tax (VAT) on aviation turbine fuel.
The aerospace and defence manufacturing and R&D services would be extended incentives as per industrial policy.