Modi Cabinet approves leasing out Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru airports under AAI

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal for leasing out the Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru airports of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) through the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

The airports would be leased out to the highest bidder and this measure would increase their annual profits 10-fold, Union Minister Prakash Javdekar told the media in a briefing after the cabinet meeting.

The Cabinet has approved leasing out these airports to the highest bidder Adani Enterprises Ltd who quoted the highest bid for operation, management and development under PPP for a lease period of 50 years as per the terms and conditions of the bid documents, the Minister said.

"These projects will bring efficiency in delivery, expertise, enterprise and professionalism apart from harnessing the needed investments in the public sector. This will also result in enhanced revenues to the AAI, which may lead to further investment by AAI at Tier II and Tier III cities and economic development in these areas in terms of job creation and related infrastructure," he added.