Lok Sabha Debates
Regarding Privatization Of Airports - Laid on 24 July, 2019
Seventeenth Loksabha > Title: Regarding privatization of airports - Laid SHRI B. MANICKAM TAGORE (VIRUDHUNAGAR): The Union Government has taken a decision to privatise six airports namely Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, and Guwahati through a public-private partnership (PPP) model. These six airports are profit-making airports and having air traffic throughout the year.
Setting up of an airport is not an easy task. It involves tremendous works and efforts by various departments to acquire land, compensation to the land owners/farmers, clearance from various departments, constructions of building with all infrastructure facilities and passengers amenities. So it involves huge investments and expenditure. After constructing airports with all infrastructure facilities by spending thousands of crores of rupees and earning profit from these airports, the Government simply handed them over to the private players to manage the airports. What is the logic behind it and what is the difficulty for the AAI (Airports authority of India which is managing all airports in the country) to manage and maintain these profit-making airports at this juncture? The employees union and trade unions have expressed their frustration for privatization of these airports. So, the whole country is expecting proper answer from the Union Government that on what basis these profit making airports were privatized. what are the terms and conditions for the privatization? The names of private players to whom the airports be handed over to? By when these formalities are likely to be completed and the terms and conditions for sharing of revenue from these airports. Whether bids have been invited from global operators and total number of eligible bidders participated in the bidding for the PPP. Whether the Union Government has taken care of the future of the employees working in these 6 airports.
In view of the above, I urge upon the Hon’ble Minister of Civil Aviation to provide the details about the process followed in the recent privatization.