Airport Authority of India looking to build airports overseas

New Delhi: Spurred by the success of private infrastructure companies and also by the need to expand its footprint, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is looking to build airports overseas.
State-owned AAI is the largest owner and operator of airports within in India but now, it has expressed interest in modernising a small airport at Palali in Sri Lanka and plans to identify other similar projects in neighbouring countries.
Though AAI’s member (finance), Satish C Chhatwal, said about 30 years back, AAI had executed airport projects as far away as Libya and Yemen, the airport body has not ventured outside India in all these years.
He said the Palali airport project would be a contract worth Rs 400-500 crore but bidding has not begun as yet.
Interestingly, civil aviation minister Praful Patel has been exhorting AAI to not only expand it footprint beyond Indian shores but also look for alternative revenue generation sources to improve its financial conditions.
AAI chairman V P Agarwal said that the Authority has already completed feasibility study of an airport in Sri Lanka and was aggressively looking to bid for other countries for opportunities to build airports.
11/08/10 Sindhu Bhattacharya/Times of India

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Categories: airports aug 2010, Foreign Aug 2010, New Aug 2010