Sky not the limit for airport privatisation

A government-appointed committee has dropped the proposal floated by the civil aviation ministry to restrict the number of airports a private operator can bid for under the public-private partnership model.

Sources in the government said the committee, after examining the market, came to the conclusion that there are not enough players in the sector to take up airport privatisation, so putting any kind of cap would delay the entire exercise to privatise airports. The proposal was that a private operator cannot bid for more than two projects in a round of auction.

The government is likely to invite bids for privatisation of Varanasi, Calicut, Patna, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Coimbatore, Trichy, Indore and Raipur airports in the next round and the guidelines once finalised would not have any restrictive clause, sources said.