Private players to manage cargo at non-metro airports

Even as the government is proposing some changes from the original bidding structure for modernisation of 35 non metro airports, the ministry of civil aviation has clarified that the air cargo management at these airports will be vested with private players as envisaged in the original bidding document .
According to a senior government official, the Planning Commission has suggested to take away commercial operations and maintenance of terminal buildings from the private participation . "There were discussions to take away cargo management too," he said.
As per the original request for qualification, the ministry had decided to give the mandate to the winning bidder for commercial operations, maintenance of terminal buildings, cargo management and city-side development.
The target date for completion of modernisation process of the 35 non-metro airports by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), is March 2010. New terminal buildings expandable on modular basis are being constructed at Ahmedabad , Amritsar, Aurangabad, Agatti, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Goa, Jaipur, Lucknow, Indore, Khajuraho , Madurai, Mangalore, Port Blair, Ranchi, Raipur, Rajkot, Trivandrum, Trichy, Udaipur, Varanasi and Vishakhapatnam airports.
Modification and expansion of existing terminal buildings are being undertaken at airports in Agra, Agartala, Coimbatore, Dimapur, Guwahati , Imphal, Jammu, Nagpur, Patna, Pune and Vadodara. Out of these 35 airports, tenders for Amritsar and Udaipur had already floated and the ministry is in the process of shortlisting the bidders.
23/06/08 Economic Times

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Categories: Airports Jun 2008, Cargo Jun 2008