Thursday, June 8 2006 18:03 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Government would consult West Bengal and Tamil Nadu governments on the 'way forward' to modernise Kolkata and Chennai airports on a priority basis in the next three months, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel today (June 8, 2006) said.

Modernisation of 35 non-metro airports would also be taken up in one go and tenders for the purpose would be issued shortly, he told reporters after an hour-long meeting of the Prime Minister's Committee on Infrastructure here.

The government had earlier decided to take up the modernisation work for these 35 airports in three phases, but Patel said it would now be taken up together from next year and the entire process will be completed by 2008-09.

"We are taking up these (35) airports together as the domestic passenger traffic in the first quarter of 2006 has shown a whopping increase of 49 per cent," he said.

On the Kolkata and Chennai airports, he said, "We will find the way forward in the shortest possible time in consultation with the two state governments, probably within the next three months. After Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, these two airports are major gateways of great significance and they have to be upgraded on a prioritybasis."

The Minister said that construction of two Greenfield airports at Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh would be done at a cost of Rs 700-800 crore on a priority basis.

Patel said he had suggested at the Infrastructure Committee meeting that the empowered Group of Ministers (eGoM) on airport modernisation, headed by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, should hold consulations with the two state governments to decide on the path to modernise the two metro airports.