The State government’s Civil Aviation Policy -2015 which seeks to set up a Rs.100 crore corpus for development of regional airports, create project-specific Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) for speedy growth of aviation infrastructure and offers a slew of incentives to private sector came into effect on Monday.
A GO issued here said the strategic objectives of the policy are to improve air connectivity, promote development of aviation infrastructure and make AP a preferred destination for investment in aviation and allied businesses by creating airports as hubs of economic activity. The SPVs will act for identified aviation projects as the sponsor and as the nodal agency for planning and implementation of specified airport infrastructure projects and provide support to project developers and operators, said the GO. The SPV will be focussed on securing necessary clearances and approvals, including obtaining land for aviation project purposes and handling the bidding process.
The vision of the policy is “ Creation of world class aviation infrastructure in the State that would help provide reliable and seamless air connectivity to regional, national and international destinations by 2022”. It has set a target to increase the share of airports in AP in the air passenger traffic in India from the current 1 per cent to 7 per cent by 2022. Similarly, the share of air cargo carried from airports in the State is envisaged to increase from 0.1 per cent in 2014-15 to 5 per cent by 2022.
With only one airport catering to international travel at present, it seeks to increase the number of international airports to at least three by 2022. Meanwhile, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu asked officials to focus on developing airports sans frills in the State and complete them in two years.
He also asked officials to introduce a flight package for couples to have hassle-free darshan at Tirumala and said that the new terminal at the Tirupati airport would be completed within two months.
