According to reports, a total of 25 ports will be privatized and leased for 50 years in this phase. The list includes major airports as well as smaller airports. Sources claim that Kolkata Airport (Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport) is also in this list. Chennai, Varanasi are also in the list. On the other hand, among the smaller airports, airports like Jabalpur, Indore may be privatized. According to sources, it is planned to privatize these airports to raise Rs 10,000 crore to the exchequer.
Experts consider Kolkata Airport to be in the government’s privatization list as a very significant issue. Because Kolkata is one of the busiest airports in the country. The airport covers a total area of 1641 acres. It is one of the most important airports in Eastern India. Also, it is the larger of the 2 airports in the state.
All India media has claimed that the Center may walk the road of Private Partnership (PPP) model in the second phase of airport privatization. In this privatization plan, the government can consider the big airport and the small airport as a unit for auction. That is, if Kolkata Airport is taken up for bidding, Indore Airport can be raised as the same unit. Whoever bids, bids for both together.
Even if this idea of privatization is taken for now, it is estimated that it may take maximum 2 months to get permission from the whole center. Incidentally, the Center had earlier privatized a total of 6 airports in 2019. Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Mangalore, Jaipur, Guwahati, Thiruananthapuram – these 6 airports were privatized. All the airports went to the Adani group. Later this company also took over the Mumbai International Airport from GVK.