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Uttarakhand: G R Infraprojects Emerges As Lowest Bidder For 10 Km Kedarnath And 13 Km Hemkund Sahib Ropeway Projects

By
Amit Mishra
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0

G R Infraprojects has emerged as the lowest bidder for construction of two ropeway projects in Uttarakhand, namely, Gaurikund to Kedarnath and Govind Ghat to Hemkund Sahib.

Both projects will be developed on Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) and will have to be completed in four years from the Appointed date.

The selected concessionaire will also be responsible for operating the ropeways for 15 years from Commercial Operation Date (COD).

The bid cost for Kedarnath ropeway is Rs 1,875 crore and Rs 1,738 crore for Hemkund Sahib ropeway.

On 21 October 2022, Prime minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stones for both the projects which will give a boost to religious tourism in the state.

Gaurikund-Kedarnath Ropeway

The ropeway in Kedarnath will be around 9.7 km long and will connect Gaurikund to Kedarnath Dham in Uttarakhand’s Rudraprayag district.

Gaurikund-Kedarnath alignment map

Set to be longest ropeway in the world at an altitude of 11,500 feet (3,500 m) above sea level, it will significantly reduce the time taken by pilgrims to reach Kedarnath shrine.

After completion of this project, the yatra time of 7 hours will be reduced to 30 minutes.

Govind Ghat – Ghangaria – Hemkund Sahib

The project is a 12.4 Km long alignment which stretches from Govind Ghat (about 275 km from Rishikesh) to Hemkund Sahib in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand.

Govind Ghat – Ghangaria – Hemkund Sahib alignment map

The entire alignment falls under the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. It will reduce the travel time from Govind Ghat to Hemkund Sahib from more than a day to only about 45 mins.

This ropeway will also connect Ghangaria, which is the gateway to Valley of Flowers National Park.

Significance

The ropeway projects are expected to be affordable options for the common man to reach both these pilgrimage sites.

Kedarnath temple is among the holiest shrines of Hindus while Hemkund Sahib is a sacred place for the Sikhs.

However, geographical inaccessibility is a major challenge for these places – Hemkund Sahib is located at an altitude of 4,329 metres and Kedarnath at 3,584 metres.

While there are chopper services for Hemkund Sahib from Govind Ghat and for Kedarnath, they are expensive for some who have to undertake the arduous 10-12 hour trek of about 19 km to Hemkund Sahib and 6-7 hour trek of 16 km from Gaurikund to Kedarnath.

NCR’s Second RRTS Line Construction Put On Fast Track: 106 Km Delhi-Gurugram-SNB Corridor Included Under PM Gati Shakti

By
Amit Mishra
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0

In a big boost to Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) implementation in National Capital Region, the Delhi-Gurugram-SNB corridor will now be under the ambit of PM Gati Shakti masterplan.

The project has been shortlisted by Network Planning Group (NPG) under Ministry of Commerce and Industry, among other projects to boost urban connectivity and support manufacturing.

Backing of the NPG, consisting of the heads of the planning divisions of eight ministries and departments is likely to result in faster approvals and expeditious completion of the much-delayed project.

The Project

The Delhi-Gurugram-SNB (Shahjahanpur-Neemrana-Behror Urban Complex) RRTS corridor is part of the Delhi-Arwal RRTS Line.

One of the three RRTS corridors prioritised for implementation, Delhi-Gurugram-Alwar is planned to be implemented in three stages.

Delhi-Alwar RRTS Alignment

Under the first stage, a 106.5 km stretch will be constructed from Sarai Kale Khan (SKK) in Delhi to SNB Urban Complex, just ahead of Bawal (Haryana), enroute touching various regional nodes such as Gurugram, Manesar, Panchgaon and Rewari.

The line would be extended from SNB Urban Complex  to Sotanala (33.3 km), with Shahjahanpur, Neemrana, and Behror in between, under the second phase. SNB to Alwar (58 km) extension is proposed under the third phase.

The Delhi-Gurugram-SNB corridor will be elevated for about 71 km (11 stations), the remaining 35 km (5 stations) will be constructed underground, mostly in Delhi & Gurugram.

Alignment OF SKK-SNB RRTS Corridor

This corridor will be interoperable with the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor, facilitating commuters to travel between one corridor to another without the need to change the train.

Similarly, with an intent to incentivise the use of Public Transport, RRTS stations on this corridor will be seamlessly integrated with other modes of transport — metro rail, railway station and ISBT at Sarai Kale Khan; metro rail systems at INA, Aerocity, Udyog Vihar in Gurgaon, Kherki Duala, and Panchgaon and IGI airport at Aerocity.

Approval

The Board of the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), which is carrying out the RRTS project, had in December 2021 approved the construction of the Delhi-Gurugram-SNB corridor. Subsequently, the detailed project report (DPR) of the project was approved by the state governments of Haryana and Rajasthan in 2019.

The corridor is planned to be constructed in about five years’ time, excluding one year of pre-construction activities at a base construction cost of Rs 37,987 crore, funded by government of India (20 per cent), concerned state governments (20 per cent) and bilateral/multilateral funding agencies (60 per cent).

The centre has already received the approval with financial commitment of government of Haryana and government of Rajasthan for Delhi-SNB RRTS corridor. However, the Delhi government has not agreed to provide funds for the RRTS corridor connecting the national capital with Rajasthan and Haryana.

The proposal is currently under consideration of government of India.

Significance

This RRTS smart line will pass through the urbanised and industrialised areas of Haryana such as Gurugram, Rewari, Manesar, Daruheda, Bawal and connect Delhi airport with the RRTS network, increasing the overall productivity of NCR.

Once constructed, the corridor is expected to bring down the travel time between Sarai Kale Khan (SKK) and SNB to less than 70 minutes. The daily ridership on this corridor is estimated to be 8.5 lakh in 2025.

Apart from unlocking economic development potential of the region, such high-speed commute will bring people and places closer, enabling polycentric growth in NCR.

Noida International Airport: 25 Per Cent Work Done, Phase 1 To Be Completed By September 2024

By
Amit Mishra
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0

The work on the first phase of the Noida International Airport (NIA) at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh is complete by nearly 25 per cent.

This was communicated to the Chief Secretary DS Mishra during a review meeting at the airport site office in Jewar last week.

Tata Projects, which is the contractor for the project has been carrying out the construction of the terminal building, runway and air traffic control (ATC) in full swing. At present, the concreting work of the terminal piers is continuing, even as the land for the runway is being levelled.

The construction marked a milestone on 16 January with a “mega pour” of 1,800 cubic metres of concrete and 350 tonnes of cement in 20 hours.

The Jewar airport is understood to be the “most important” project of the state government and is being personally monitored by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Adityanath, during his inspection of the airport site in September 2022 had asked the project developers to speed up the airport work, by increasing the number of staff and machines, so that the project is completed by early 2024 and the first flight scheduled for September 2024 takes off on time.

Accordingly, the number of machinery and workforce has been increased at the airport site.

The meeting also deliberated on the matters related to Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), customs, communications, navigation and surveillance systems for air traffic management (CNSATM) and security for the airport. The land requirement for the concerned agencies is currently being estimated and is expected to be finalised before the next coordination meeting.

Timeline

In November 2019, the Swiss firm Zurich Airport International AG (ZAIA) won the contract to build and operate the Noida airport for a period of 40 years, which includes construction period of four years in the first phase.

Subsequent to this, the Zurich Airport International AG (ZAIA) incorporated a 100 per cent owned Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) – Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIAPL), to develop the greenfield airport.

The State government on 7 October 2020 signed the concession agreement with YIAPL to commence the development of the Noida International Airport.

In June 2022, the Yamuna International Airport Private Limited selected Tata Projects Ltd. to undertake the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of Noida International Airport.

Following the ground-breaking ceremony by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2021, preparation for EPC activities had been initiated with earthworks and boundary construction at the site. The construction work on the site started only in June 2022 after the selection of the EPC agency.

India’s Largest Airport

The upcoming greenfield airport at Jewar will enhance domestic as well as international connectivity to and from Delhi-NCR, Noida and Western Uttar Pradesh.

The airport, billed to be India’s largest upon completion, will be developed in four phases, after which it would have an annual passenger capacity of 70 million and two terminal buildings, spread across an area of 5,000 acres.

As per the concession agreement, the first phase for 12 million passengers per annum is to be completed and made operational by September 2024.

The master plan development as foreseen across four phases includes the following key features:

Master Plan of NIA, Jewar

The survey work for acquisition of land for the second phase of the NIA is also underway – second phase of the NIA is planned in an area of 1,365 hectares.

Delhi Metro Launches India’s First Indigenously Developed ‘Automated Train Supervision’ System, Joins Exclusive Club Of Five Countries

By
Amit Mishra
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0

The deployment of i-ATS will significantly reduce the dependence of Indian metros on foreign vendors dealing with such technologies.

In a first for rail-based mass transit in India, the first ever indigenously developed Train Control and Supervision System was launched on 18 February for operations on the Red Line of Delhi Metro.

The system called i-ATS (Indigenous – Automatic Train Supervision) system has been jointly developed by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) under the Government of India’s ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ initiative for the Metro Rail Transit System.

Thus, it is for the first time, the Metro trains are running on an automated signalling system developed in our own country. The entirely locally-made system entered field trials on the Red Line in March last year.

With this milestone, India joins the elite club of five nations which have their own ATS products, after France, Germany, Japan, Canada, and China.

ATS (Automatic Train Supervision)

ATS is a computer-based system, which manages train operations. The system is responsible for monitoring and controlling the rail system to ensure that it conforms to an intended schedule and traffic pattern in order to optimize railway operations and service reliability.

This system is indispensable for high train density operations such as the metro, where services are scheduled every few minutes.

These technology systems have been primarily controlled by foreign countries and as such the deployment of i-ATS will significantly reduce the dependence of Indian metros on foreign vendors dealing with such technologies.

Beginning with Red Line, the i-ATS system will further be deployed for operations on Delhi Metro’s other operational corridors and the upcoming independent corridors of Phase 4 project as well.

In addition, i-ATS can be used in operations of other rail-based systems including Indian Railways. This technology has been developed with flexibility to work with different signalling vendor’s systems with suitable changes.

ATS-to-CBTC

Communication-based train control (CBTC) is a signalling system that uses communication between onboard and trackside equipment for train operation and control. CBTC has been widely adopted in recent years on monorails, commuter trains, metros, and other urban railway services.

As part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) roped in Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), DMRC and BEL and other associates to indigenise the CBTC technology.

To take the project forward, DMRC and BEL had entered into a MoU in November 2022. A dedicated team of DMRC and BEL are working together to prepare the technology for operations. A full-fledged i-ATS lab has been set up at DMRC’s IT Park to simulate the site requirements. It is now being upgraded for development of CBTC system.

The development of the i-ATS is a major step towards the development of an indigenously built CBTC based signalling system for Metro railway since the ATS is an important sub system of the CBTC Signalling system.

Second In A Row: Tata Steel Transports 960 MT Steel Across Northeast Using Inland Waterways, A Major Step Towards Decarbonising Logistics

By
Amit Mishra
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0

Tata Steel has successfully completed the first multi-modal shipment of 960 tonnes of steel TMT bars from Haldia port in West Bengal to Agartala in Tripura via the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) route.

The entire transportation from being flagged off to receiving material at distributor’s warehouse was completed in 17 days, it said.

The barge ‘MV Bulker’ containing the consignment was launched from the Haldia port on 8 January this year and the first leg of the journey was through the inland waterways using IBP route to the transfer point at Ashuganj port in Bangladesh.

Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) Route

The bars were then unloaded, and the second leg transportation via road to a Land Port Authority of India warehouse at Agartala, at the India-Bangladesh border was carried out. In the third and final leg of the journey, trucks were used to transship goods from this warehouse to the distributor’s warehouse in Agartala.

Earlier in 2022, Tata Steel became the first in the Indian steel sector to move products using inland waterways when it shipped 1,800 tonnes of finished steel products from Haldia Port in West Bengal to Pandu Port in Assam using the IBP route via the Brahmaputra river.

Significance

The use of inland waterways through IBP route has many strategic and economical vantage points. These include:

  • The route exemplifies efficient utilisation of the river-sea combination as a mode of transport and multimodal movement, and thus can be effectively recreated.
  • The endeavour will also help Tata Steel lower its ‘Scope 3’ carbon footprint and will contribute to decarbonising the steel sector.
  • The IBP route will lessen the amount of material moved through chicken neck, hence reducing the overall distance and reliance on rail and road, as well as aid in the decarbonisation of the logistics sector.
  • The IBP route will also help in serving the growing northeast market better. This route can also be explored for serving other locations en-route this waterway, to deliver steel in smaller lots and in better condition for the benefit of customers in the region.

Uttar Pradesh Plans To Introduce ‘Metro Lite’ In Tourist Hotspots Of Varanasi, Ayodhya And Mathura

By
Amit Mishra
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0

The Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC) is planning to introduce metro services in tourist hotspots of Ayodhya, Varanasi and Mathura.

UPMRC MD Sushil Kumar in an interview with Hindustan outlined plans on constructing metro lines in religious tourism hotspots.

As per the plan, the services will be introduced as the ‘Metro lite’, which will be a miniature version of metro, covering limited parts of the city.

The Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) system at these places will not only reduce the traffic problem but also act as a catalyst in promoting tourism.

Plan Details

In Mathura, the Metro services will connect Vrindavan and Govardhan Parikrama Kshetra.

Similarly, in Varanasi, the proposed service will connect all the ghats and important institutions like Banaras Hindu University (BHU). The Uttar Pradesh government is also planning to bring water metro service to Varanasi on the lines of Kochi water metro.

With the grand Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya likely to be opened by early 2024, it is expected that the temple town will see a deluge of religious pilgrims. The UPMRC is working to provide a swift connectivity to the temple and other major sites in the city.

Apart from this, the proposed metro lite service will also cover areas falling within Panch Kosi and Chaudah Kosi Parikrama Kshetra.

Followers of the Panch Kosi Parikrama take a holy bath in the water of Saryu River and then go to five destinations, each at distance of one kosh (~3 km) around the periphery of Ayodhya. Those places are Kardmeshwar, Shivpur, Rameshwar, Bhimchandi and Kapildhara.

Similarly, Chaudah Kosi Parikrama involves walking 42 km within the city.

Uttar Pradesh already has operational metro networks in Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida and Kanpur. The state government is working on expanding the services to Agra, Gorakhpur, Meerut, Bareilly, Jhansi and Prayagraj.

Metro Lite

Cities with a well spread-out spatial pattern, even if they have a high population, may not have sufficient number of corridors with adequate density to justify investments in a metro.

As such state governments have been requested to adopt Metro Lite as a prime mode of mass transit in smaller cities.

This system which can be constructed at a cost of about 40 per cent of high-capacity metro system is more viable and sustainable due to less capital, operation and maintenance costs.

As of now, three Metro Lite Projects are under various stages of implementation. These include Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Sri Nagar.

Madhya Pradesh’s Fourth Expressway: 660km Vindhya Expressway To Connect Bhopal And Singrauli, Announces Chief Minister Chouhan

By
Amit Mishra
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0

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday (15 February) announced the construction of Vindhya Expressway to connect state capital Bhopal with Singrauli, a distance of around 660 km.

The fourth expressway of the state will join six districts of the states, namely, Bhopal, Damoh, Katni, Rewa, Sidhi and Singrauli.

Proposed alignment of Vindhya Expressway.

Industrial clusters will also be developed along this proposed expressway to provide employment to youths from the area, he announced.

The Vindhya region is traditionally considered to be the plateau around the Vindhyachal ranges in central India. The much-needed development, undoubtedly, will improve connectivity across dozens of districts of the Vindhya region such as Sidhi, Satna, Shadole, Umaria, Singrauli, Anupur and others.

Three Mega Expressways

The Centre is currently developing three mega-expressways in the state, namely, Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, Chambal Expressway and Narmada Expressway.

1. Delhi-Mumbai Expressway

The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is India’s longest expressway with a length of 1,386 km. The 8-Lane access-controlled greenfield expressway would reduce travel time between India’s National Capital Delhi and the Financial Capital Mumbai to 12 hrs from 24 hrs.

Nearly 244 km of the DME will pass through western Madhya Pradesh covering a 102.8 km stretch in Mandsaur, 91.1 km in Ratlam and 50.5 km in Jhabua.

Delhi-Mumbai Expressway

With 214 kms already completed and another 30 kms in the advanced stage of completion, Madhya Pradesh is likely to be the first state to finish all of the packages within its borders and will probably be launched next. The 246-km Delhi-Dausa-Lalsot became the first section of the DME to be opened to the public on 12 February.

Importantly, the new expressway will open new avenues of development in the Malwa-Nimar region by directly connecting areas such as Dhar, Jhabua, Ratlam, Dewas, Indore, Ujjain, Mandsaur to Delhi-Mumbai, Gujarat (Gujarat) and Rajasthan (Rajasthan).

2. Chambal Expressway

The 408.77-km-long Atal Progressway is a four-lane access-controlled expressway connecting Kota in Rajasthan to Etawah in Uttar Pradesh via Sheopur, Morena and Bhind districts in Madhya Pradesh.

The lion’s share of the greenfield expressway, at nearly 300 km, will pass through Madhya Pradesh. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has until now invited bids for 219 km length network in Madhya Pradesh.

Chambal Valley

Passing through Chambal valley, the expressway labelled as “Chambal Expressway” is a ray of hope  in the region famous for its ravines, semi-arid land, legendary brigands and lawlessness. The new expressway will enhance economic development in the area through industrialisation, tourism, commercial developments and consequent employment.

3. Narmada Expressway

The 900 km Narmada Expressway by NHAI is a proposed 6 lane access-controlled highway with a route alignment connecting Alirajpur (on the Gujarat border) and Amarkantak (on the Chhattisgarh border) in Madhya Pradesh.

Proposed Alignment of Narmada Expressway

This greenfield expressway under Bharatmala Pariyojna will run along Narmada river and later on extended by 150 km to either Bharuch or Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

Passing through 11 districts of Anupur, Dindori, Mandla, Jabalpur, Narsinghpur, Hoshangabad, Harda, Khandwa, Khargone, Barwani and Alirajpur, the project will serve as an east-west route in Madhya Pradesh.

The longest expressway in the state has already been approved by the state government and is currently under planning.

Reach Vaishno Devi Temple In Six Minutes: Centre Sets In Motion Rs 250 Crore Ropeway Project To Holy Shrine

By
Amit Mishra
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0

The arduous journey to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir may be history soon as the government has finally started the process to build a Rs 250-crore worth ropeway project to the holy shrine.

Nestled in the Trikuta mountains at an altitude of 5,200 feet, the Vaishno Devi Temple is located in Reasi district. Over 91 lakh pilgrims had visited the holy temple in 2022, most of them undertaking a trek of nearly 12 km from the base camp at Katra.

Rail India Technical and Economic Service Limited (RITES), a Railway PSU invited bids on 15 February to build the nearly 2.4-km ropeway which could reduce the journey time to just six minutes, thereby saving on time and efforts of many visitors.

Specifications

The project will start from Tarakote near the Katra base camp and end at Sanjhichhat, which is half kilometre short of the holy shrine.

The ropeway will have the Gondola cable car system with a capacity of 1,500 persons per hour (PPH).

To be executed, operated and maintained on BOOT (build, own, operate, transfer) basis, the work will have to be completed in 36 months after award of contract. The concession period will be 33 years (inclusive of construction) extendable for a further period of 10 years.

Existing Route

So far, the only way to reach the Vaishno Devi temple is through a steep 12-km-long trek along Katra-Adhkuwari-Bhawan route or taking a helicopter ride from Katra to Sanjhichhat.

Trek Route of Vaishno Devi Temple

However, walking for 12 km can be arduous and tiring for those not used to it. Also, many pilgrims who are overweight or otherwise not fit to walk for long and those who have breathing problems or some other ailments or are old or physically challenged need the services of ponies and palkies.

The ropeway could offer a much cheaper and far less arduous journey for pilgrims to the temple.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2018 had inaugurated Tarakote Marg, an alternate seven kilometre track to the temple which is less steep and with easier gradient.

Need For Ropeway

The bid documents mention a host of reasons behind establishing the ropeway:

  • The 12 km journey on foot up to the bhawan (temple) is tiresome due to level difference of 5,200 ft. The time taking journey on steep slope in normal scenario may get covered just in six minutes by ropeway.
  • The ropeway would not only save the ecology of the area but also prove to be a major attraction for the tourists as visitors would be able to get an aerial view of entire picturesque valley from the ropeway and may lead to further increase in tourist footfall.
  • During hot summer, pilgrims avoid daytime travel. With the ropeway, the tourist can also visit in daytime comfortably.
  • There will be less pollution on the trek due to less garbage and less waste by mull/pony/horse.
  • Due to less travel time, the stay at bhawan will be reduced, hence reducing the overcrowding and chance of any unfortunate accidents at bhawan, particularly during peak season.

Tracking National Highway Work: Average Per Day Road Construction Jumps To 22.23 Km, 8,400 Km Awarded And 6,800 Km Constructed

By
Amit Mishra
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0

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has constructed 6,803 km of National Highway (NHs) between 1 April and 31 January in FY 2022-23 as compared to 6,684 km constructed during the same period in FY 2021-22.

On a kilometer basis, this translates to 22.23 km per day on an average, slightly up from 21.84 km constructed per day in 2021-22 for the same period, shows official data.

Apart from laying more highways, the Ministry has also stepped up on awarding work.

A total of 8,400 km of highways have been awarded up to January in 2022-23 financial year, a jump of 22 per cent over 6,883 km awarded during the same period in the last financial year.

By the end of December 2022, the Ministry had constructed 5,337 km of national highways; 19.5 km per day.

Consistent Improvement

The pace of National Highways construction has increased consistently between 2014-15 and 2021-22 due to the systematic push through corridor-based National Highway development approach.

In the financial year 2020-21 which saw the Covid-induced lockdown, the Ministry constructed a record 13,327 km of national highways. In 2019-20, the Ministry constructed 10,237 km and in 2021-22, 10,457 km of NHs were constructed.

National Highways construction between 2014-15 and 2022-23 (upto 31 January).

In 2014-15, the pace of NH construction was about 12 km per day which touched a record high of 36.5 km per day in 2020-21 and then declined to about 29 km per day in 2021-22.

National Highway Construction in km and km per day between 2014-15 and 2022-23 (upto 31 January).

The increase in average construction per day is a welcome change for the Ministry as it was reporting a slower pace of road construction until December last year.

With uptick in average construction and suitable weather across the country, the Ministry is confident of constructing 12,000 km national highways during this financial year, which will end on 31 March.

Chennai, Varanasi, Kolkata Among 25 Airports To Be Leased Under Phase 2 Of Airport Privatisation

By
Amit Mishra
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0

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has identified as many as 25 airports for leasing to private players under the second phase of airport privatisation.

It includes a combination of large airports like Chennai, Varanasi and Kolkata and small airports like Raipur, Kushinagar, Jabalpur, Indore in line with the current monetisation plans of the Aviation Ministry.

The Ministry is currently finalising the terms and conditions for the bidding process and hopes to earn more than Rs 10,000 crore as upfront payment from this exercise.

However, the exact value of proceeds that the Government would receive is dependent upon many factors including transaction timing, market conditions, investor appetite, transaction terms.

Clubbing Exercise

As suggested in the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), clubbing of smaller airports with each of the bigger airports and leasing out as a package is being explored.

For example, the Varanasi Airport could be clubbed with Kushinagar Airport. Similarly, Chennai Airport could be clubbed with a nearby smaller airport.

The new formula is expected to attract more private players for the bidding process and also ensure commensurate development of non-profitable airports along with the profitable airports with the help of private sector investment and participation.

However, the bidding formula will be the same as it was during the first phase of airport privatisation i.e., per passenger fees or the revenue.

Eight Airports Leased So Far

Airports Authority of India (AAI) has so far leased out eight of its airports through Public Private Partnership (PPP) for operation, management and development on long term lease basis.

These include Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram airports.

The two biggest airports at Delhi and Mumbai have been awarded on the basis of Revenue Share Model wherein the private player will operate, manage and develop the airports for a period of 30 years which is further extendable by 30 years.

So far, AAI has received annual fees of more than Rs 30,000 crore as revenue share from the private partners of Delhi and Mumbai airports.

The other six airports viz. Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram have been leased on Per Passenger Fee (PPF) basis with the condition to operate, manage and develop these airports for a period of 50 years.

Further, the private partner of these six airports has paid around Rs 710 crore to AAI as PPF till 31 October, 2022.

AAI has also received an amount of approximately Rs 2349 crore from the private partner of six airports in the form of upfront fee towards the capital expenditure incurred by the authority at these airports.

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