ECB for upgrading Chennai, Kolkata airports

NEW DELHI: To fund the modernisation of Kolkata and Chennai airports, the airport authority of India (AAI) would borrow Rs 2,000 crore.

Debt would be mopped up from the domestic market or channeled through external commercial borrowing (ECB).

Modernisation of the two airports is estimated to cost Rs 5,700 crore. “We are open to both the routes for generating money. Wherever we would find better rate of interest we would go for that,” civil aviation secretary Ashok Chawla said on the sidelines of a conference of chief secretaries on public-private partnership (PPP).

Earlier the government had planned to develop both the airports on public-private partnership on the lines of Delhi and Mumbai. However, the government has decided that upgradation of both airports would be done by AAI.

Link:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Economy/ECB_for_upgrading_Chennai_Kolkata_airports/articleshow/2224278.cms