Maharashtra Airports snippets

The Anil Ambaniled Reliance Airport Developers Ltd is on its way to picking up five airports in rural Maharashtra on a 95-year lease for a total of only Rs 63 crore from the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation. Government officials said that MIDC passed the proposal last week and recommended to the state that Yavatmal, Nanded, Latur, Osmanabad and Baramati airports be leased. MIDC officials said they could have got a higher price in a better economy but industries secretary A M Khan said the government was satisfied with the price it was getting.
MIDC has also allowed construction of a greenfield airport at Chipi in Sindhudurg, by IRB, the company that collects toll at Mumbai nakas. This land, too, has been given on lease for 95 years at a cost of Rs 21 crore. MIDC insiders said all the airports being leased out had come up because some ministers wanted airports in their hometowns. The Nanded airport was extended at a cost of Rs 110 crore only last year, and the one in Latur was refurbished by the MIDC at a cost of Rs 25 crore. But there has been little by way of operations at either airport. Yavatmal and Osmanabad have had no commercial operation so far. State industries secretary A M KhanKhan said the proposal to lease the five airports to Reliance was awaiting the final nod from the government. IRB Infrastructure Developers chairman and managing director Virendra Mhaiskar said: “We plan to construct a class-C runway of 2,600 metres which can accommodate A-320s or 737s. We feel it will be a profitable proposition and we will be able to pull at least 20% of Goa’s traffic since this airport is just 80 km from Goa.’’ The airport is expected to cater to tourism in Sindhudurg and give a fillip to mango exports. Deshmukh said the runway could also be extended to 3.5 kms. The Goa government’s plan to have a second airport at Mopa in North Goa may take a hit because of the Maharashtra government’s decision, officials said. Civil aviation ministry rules say there can’t be two greenfield airports within a distance of 150 km. “The civil aviation ministrys policies do not allow greenfield airports within 150 kms of existing airports. So the Goa government will not be able to construct an airport at Mopa after construction of the airport at Chipi as both are less than 150 kms away from each other,’’ an MIDC official said. MIDC is also handing over its airport at Amravati to the Maharashtra Airport Development Company. Government officials said this project had been put on the fast track because Amravati was the hometown of President Pratibha Patil.