Cabinet approves proposal for leasing out Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram airports

The Union cabinet on Wednesday decided to lease out three airports of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram for a period of 50 years.

The three airports were part of the first phase of airport privatisation but were facing legal hurdles after being awarded to Adani Enterprises, the highest bidders, in February last year.

Besides these three airports, Adani Enterprises had won the bids for operation, management and development of airports at Lucknow, Mangaluru and Ahmedabad.

“The Union Cabinet accorded its approval for leasing of three AAI airports namely, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram for Operation, Management and Development to M/s Adani Enterprises Ltd, who is declared as the successful bidder in a Global Competitive Bidding conducted by the Airports Authority of India, for a period of fifty years,” I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters.

“These projects will bring efficiency in service delivery, expertise, enterprise and professionalism apart from harnessing the needed investments in the public sector,” he said.

Javadekar said AAI is expected to receive more than Rs 1,000 crore as upfront payment from Adani Enterprises and the amount could be used to develop airports in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and also to upgrade the same to international standards.

The Modi government plans to privatise 30-35 airports over the next five years.

In the second round of airport auctions, AAI has decided to lease out the airports at Varanasi, Bhubaneshwar, Amritsar, Indore, Raipur and Trichy to private partners.

The government had already leased out airports at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Mumbai to private partners.