With an eye on the coming state elections in Maharashtra, the civil aviation ministry is drawing up plans to develop a greenfield international airport in Chakan, near Pune, and to upgrade the Nagpur airport as a multi-modal international hub.
These form part of the government's plans to develop the two cities as major airline hubs and the matter is expected to be sorted out by September 2004.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting by the Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Praful Patel, and the representatives of the government of Maharashtra, ministry of defence and ministry of civil aviation.
The ministry of civil aviation has also asked the ministry of defence for its inputs in developing the Pune airport into a 24-hour airport. The government has also designated Maharashtra Industrial Corporation as the nodal agency for building the greenfield airport in Chakan.
Pointing out that the proposal to develop the Chakan airport came from the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, a government statement said that a techno-economic feasibility study was being undertaken for this purpose.
The other details of the airports are being worked out by the ministry of defence, Maharashtra government and Airports Authority of India.
Development of greenfield airports gives government the flexibility to allow private and foreign participation in the project, which will bring down the financial burden on the government substantially.
This will be the third greenfield airport in the country approved by the government. The other two are the Bangalore international airport and the Hyderabad airport.
For developing the multi model international airport hub in Nagpur, the government also plans to set up a company called Maharashtra Airport Development Company under the chairmanship of the Maharashtra chief minister. The company will have equity participation from MSRDC, CIDCO, MIDC, AAI and other financial institutions.
Steps are also taken to enter into a memorandum of understanding between the government of India, ministry of defence and the government of Maharashtra before the August 15 regarding exchange of land for the Nagpur airport project, a government statement said.
As per the initial model proposed mooted by the civil aviation ministry Nagpur will be developed as hub for the Indian carriers, where they will be able to fly in for onward connections across the country.
The next meeting on the development of the Nagpur airport is scheduled to be held on August 13, 2004, which will be attended by Minister for Defence Pranab Mukherjee.
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