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Hyderabad, B`lore Airports Out Of 150-km Norm
Posted by Pradeep Sadanapalli | April 26, 2008 | 361 views
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Loading ...The new greenfield airports policy, which has allowed new airports to come up within 150 kilometres of exisiting airports, will not apply to privately-run Hyderabad and Bangalore airports as well as the proposed facility in Greater Noida.
While the concession agreements for Hyderabad and Bangalore had been signed much before the policy was formulated, proposal for the Greater Noida airport has been passed to an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) by the Union Cabinet.
The policy, which received Cabinet approval yesterday, has empowered the civil aviation ministry and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to give single-window clearance for airport projects in the country.
There is a clause in contracts for both Hyderabad and Bangalore airports which says that no new airport can come up within 150 km of the greenfield airports for 25 years after they start operations. In future, if the private developer objects to the coming up of a second airport in either Bangalore or Hyderabad, the issue will be out of the reach of the greenfield airport policy since the contract was signed much earlier, said an industry expert.
A senior executive of GMR Hyderabad International Airports Ltd (GHIAL) said: The policy has kept us out of its ambit. Hence, even if we object to a second airport coming up in Hyderabad, it cannot be resolved through the airport policy and we are out of its reach.
Now that the issue has been passed to a group of ministers, the civil aviation ministry or the steering committe will not be able to intervene, said an official.
In January, the Union Cabinet had passed the proposal for the Greater Noida airport, 72 km from the Delhi airport, to an EGoM, which includes Finance Minster P Chidambaram.
This was after Delhi Airport International Ltd (DIAL) protested against the airport project, saying that the Delhi airport would be able to handle the growth in passenger traffic and a second airport was required.
However, industry experts say that the policy will be helpful in clearing future airport projects more easily.
For instance, the proposed cargo airport at Jhajjar (Haryana) might give competition to the existing Delhi airport in cargo operations. But clearance for that airport will solely depend on the ministry and will not be taken to the Cabinet even though it is within the 150 km radius of the existing airport, said an industry expert.
The Jhajjjar cargo airport, which is a little more than 20 km from the existing Delhi airport, is being planned as part of the Reliance SEZ in Haryana.
Also, future proposals for a second airport in cities like Ahmedabad will be more easily cleared, he added.
According to estimates by the Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation, cities like Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad would need two airports in the next few years.
SOURCES:
Business Standard
Topics: Airports |
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