The construction of the International Standard Greenfield Airport at Nagchala, Mandi in Himachal Pradesh awaits ‘In-Principle’ approval along with the Detail Project Report (DPR), which has not been received in the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA).

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has already granted first-stage clearance of the site to the government of Himachal Pradesh for the development of the airport.

The information was shared by Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Gen V K Singh in reply to a question by Rajya Sabha MP from Himachal Pradesh, Sikander Kumar, on 24 July in the Parliament. Sikander Kumar had sought to know the details of the progress made so far on the process of survey, and construction of the greenfield international airport.

“The government of India has formulated a Greenfield Airports (GFA) Policy, 2008 which prescribes the procedure and conditions for the development of new greenfield airports in the country,” said the Union Minister.

Of the two stages of approval is the ‘Site Clearance’ followed by ‘In-Principle’ approval, the MoCA granted the first stage of clearance that is the ‘Site Clearance’ to the state government of Himachal Pradesh on 4 July 2022 for the development of International Standard airport at Nagchala, Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, he revealed.

The state government and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) signed a Joint Venture (JV) Agreement on 24 April 2022 for the development of the airport.

As per the provisions of the JV Agreement, the Himachal government is responsible for providing grants for all the capital expenditure for the airport project.

A joint venture Company had been formed on 9 November 2022, where the government of Himachal Pradesh has 51 percent equity and the remaining 49 per cent equity is held by AAI, he informed.

The application of ‘In-Principle’ approval along with Detail Project Report (DPR) has not been received in the MoCA from the JV Company, Himachal Pradesh government so far, said MoCA.

As per the GFA Policy, 2008, the responsibility of implementation of the Airport projects including funding of the project, land acquisition, and Rehabilitation and Resettlement rests with the concerned airport developer including the respective state government (in case the state government is the project proponent).

The timeline for the construction of airports depends upon various factors such as land acquisition, and mandatory, financial closure by respective airport developers.