New Delhi, Dec 15 (IANS): The Airports Authority of India (AAI) and other airport developers have targeted capital outlay of nearly Rs 98,000 crore in the airport sector in the next five years for expansion and modification of existing terminals, new terminals and strengthening of runways, among other activities, the Parliament was told on Thursday.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Gen V.K. Singh (retd) told the Lok Sabha, in a written reply, that upgradation or modernisation of airports' infrastructure is a continuous process and is undertaken by the AAI and other airport developers from time to time depending on the availability of land, commercial viability, socio-economic considerations, traffic demand/willingness of airlines to operate to/from such airports.

The reply said that the project costs of nine operationalised Greenfield airports are: Durgapur Rs 670 crore, Shirdi Rs 320 crore, Pakyong Rs 553.53 core, Kannur Rs 2,342 crore, Kalaburagi Rs 175.57 crore, Orvakal (Kurnool) Rs 187 crore, Sindhudurg Rs 520 crore, Kushinagar Rs 448 crore, and Donyi Polo, Itanagar Rs 646 crore.

Moreover, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Guwahati, and Ahmedabad airports have earmarked a capital expenditure of Rs 10,550 crore, Rs 13,552 crore, Rs 6,288 crore, Rs 1,383 crore, Rs 567 crore, Rs 1,232 crore and Rs 376 crore, respectively, for the period 2019-25.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has issued a related Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) to lay down requirements for aerodromes infrastructure. The CAR is based on the International Standards and Recommended Practices for Aerodromes as published in Annexure - 14 to the Convention on Civil Aviation by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, he added.