Govt plans to monetise 25 AAI airports in next four years

Over the next four years, the government plans to monetise 25 AAI-managed airports, including Chennai, Bhubaneshwar, Varanasi and Nagpur, which could get investments worth Rs 20,782 crore. Moreover, the divestment of residual stake of the Airport Authority of India's (AAI) in four airports JVs was also considered under the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) revealed on Monday. It includes the private sector operated airports in Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad. The overall assets of the airport for monetisation account for 18% of the total assets of the airport under the management of the AAI. The overall asset value considered for monetisation is estimated to be Rs 20,782 crore for FY 2022-25. The government identified 13 sectors under the ambitious NMP, including airports, to monetise their brownfield infrastructure assets. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman revealed on Monday that the airport sector contributes 4% to the overall Rs 6 lakh crore NMP. According to the NMP document, 25 significant AAI airports are considered for monetisation over FY 2022-25. These airports include Dehradun, Ranchi, Jodhpur, Patna, Tirupati, Udaipur, Indore, Coimbatore, Vadodara and Vijayawada. The AAI identified six airports during the current fiscal in Tier 2/Tier 3 cities like Varanasi, Indore, Trichy, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar and Raipur, for monetisation through brownfield PPP models. The AAI handles 137 airports, including ten customs airports, 103 domestic airports and 24 international airports. The AAI is a legal body constituted by an Act of Parliament responsible for upgrading, creating, maintaining and managing civil aviation infrastructure on both the ground and air space in the country. Image Source Also read: Centre to raise Rs 15k cr from sale of real estate and hotel assets Also read: Govt identifies 400 stations, 90 trains for asset monetisation