New land norms unlikely to benefit airport operators

New Delhi: The private airport operators of Delhi and Mumbai are unlikely to benefit from any relaxation in land usage norms for the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
As the manager of a chunk of the country’s airports, state-owned AAI is seeking an expansion in the norms to use its land on the city side of any airport for services that are not aviation-related. As of now, the AAI Act allows an airport operator to use land only for aviation-related services.
The country’s private airports operate on an Operations, Management and Development Agreement (OMDA). “That will not change with our land usage norms changing,” according to a top AAI official. “They will continue to follow the current norms of land usage,” he told Business Standard.
On the contrary, private airport operators feel an alteration to the law will change the land usage norms for them. The GMR Group says amending the AAI Act will ultimately lead to a change in the existing OMDA, that is based on the Act. “The OMDA can also change. It has also changed earlier,” notes a spokesperson of the infrastructure enterprise. OMDA permits both Delhi and Mumbai airports to commercially use five per cent and 10 per cent of the total land, respectively, to build hotels and convention centres. Delhi airport has 5,000 acres, while the figure is 2,000 for Mumbai airport.
24/11/11 Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: airports Nov 2011