The Airports Authority of India (AAI), which is to undertake modernisation at both airports — Kolkata and Chennai — has already approved consultants for the Kolkata project, which include Aeroport du Paris Internationale and RMJM of Hong Kong.
This comes after the civil aviation minister, Praful Patel, recently blamed the Planning Commission for delaying the projects at the two metros.
The plan was also criticised by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee, Sitaram Yechury, who wrote to the Prime Minister alleging that “certain arms” of the government were “deliberately delaying the process in order to privatise the modernisation of the airports through the backdoor.”
The work on Chennai airport is still to be cleared at the pre-PIB level to iron out any differences in approach between the concerned ministries. The PIB grants clearances to all projects above Rs. 50 crore to be undertaken by public sector undertakings. After a project gets PIB clearance, it goes to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for final approval.