Policy for Land Procurement for Airport Projects

As part of Government of India’s initiative of developing new airports and expansion of the existing ones, Airport Authority of India (AAI) engaged CEPT University to formulate a policy framework for land procurement for airport projects.

With increasing passenger traffic and investments, India’s civil aviation market is expected to be the largest by 2030. India plans to increase the number of airports to 250 by 2030 to supply to the robust demands of a growing middle class, expanding leisure and business travel, and increased worldwide trade (www.ibef.org). AAI is charged with the responsibility of developing greenfield airports as well as expansion of existing airports. In both cases the state governments are expected to provide land for this purpose. Traditionally, such land required for the ‘public purpose’ of developing airports was being compulsorily acquired. More recently, the experience of many state governments regarding compulsory acquisition is that it is time consuming, financially expensive and prone to political resistance. Therefore AAI intends to explore an alternate policy framework of land procurement for airport projects; one which does not rely on compulsory acquisition of land.

The Center for Urban Planning and Policy (CUPP) at CEPT University has been commissioned by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) to review alternate options and recommend a broader Policy for Land Procurement for Airport Projects.