Kolkata airport upgrade to be done at the earliest: Patel

KOLKATA: Modernisation of Kolkata airport would be done at the earliest and the first phase would becompleted in the next 24-36 months, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Friday.

Patel told here that although the ministry had desired that the airport be modernised on the lines of public-private partnership (PPP) model, this had to be abandoned due to lack of political consensus.

"We wanted the modernisation work to be done at the earliest, so we have chosen Airport Authority of India to carry out the job," Patel said.

Unless this was done, then Kolkata would lose out to Bangalore and Hyderabad as the two cities would have greenfield airports ready by 2010.

Modernisation of the Kolkata airport was also required as it was the hub of the east and the north east. In the first phase, the cost involved is Rs 2,000 crore.

Referring to the land issue, he said that this has to be resolved by the West Bengal government. Patel said more land was required for constructing a new runway.