Airports nearly doubled since 2014, more Greenfield airports in pipeline
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With the growth in the aviation traffic over the years, the country has recorded corresponding growth in setting up of the airport. The total number of airports has nearly doubled from 74 in the year 2014 to over 141 in the year 2022.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Mopa International Airport, Goa on Sunday for which the foundation stone of the airport was laid in November 2016. Developed at a cost of around Rs 2,870 crore, the airport has been built on the theme of sustainable infrastructure.
Before this, Donyi Polo Airport, Itanagar, the first Greenfield Airport of Arunachal Pradesh was inaugurated on November19, 2022
As per assessment made by Airports Authority of India (AAI), all India total passenger traffic is expected to increase from 341 million during 2019- 20 to around 827 million by the year 2032-33.
Keeping in view the growth in the aviation traffic, the government has accorded in-Principle approval for setting up of 21 Greenfield Airports across the country.
These 21 airports included Mopa in Goa, Navi Mumbai, Shirdi and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Hassan and Shivamogga in Karnataka, Dabra (Gwalior) in Madhya Pradesh, Kushinagar and Noida (Jewar) in Uttar Pradesh, Dholera and Hirasar in Gujarat, Karaikal in Puducherry, Dagadarthi, Bhogapuram and Oravakal (Kurnool) in Andhra Pradesh, Durgapur in West Bengal, Pakyong in Sikkim, Kannur in Kerala and Donyi Polo, Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh across the country.
Out of these, nine Greenfield airports including Durgapur, Shirdi, Kannur, Pakyong, Kalaburagi, Orvakal (Kurnool), Sindhudurg, Kushinagar and Donyi Polo, Itanagar have been operationalized.
Besides, the Government has also granted the first stage clearance or site clearance for construction of three Greenfield airports including Alwar in Rajasthan, Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh and Mandi in Himachal Pradesh. During the last three years, Mandi Airport project has been granted 'Site Clearance in 2022'.
As per the information from the Ministry of civil aviation, the project cost of nine operationalized airports include Durgapur - Rs 670 crore, Shirdi - Rs 320 crore, Pakyong - Rs 553.53 core, Kannur - Rs 2,342 crore, Kalaburagi - Rs 175.57 crore, Orvakal (Kurnool) - Rs 187 crore, Sindhudurg - Rs 520 crore, Kushinagar - Rs 448 crore and Donyi Polo, Itanagar - Rs 646 crore.
Officials said that as per Greenfield Airports Policy, the responsibility of implementation of airport projects including funding of the projects rests with the concerned airport developer including the respective state government (in case the state government is the project proponent).
