Planning Commission to discuss new policy for green-field airports built via PPPs.

The Planning Commission, whose term expires after this election, has called a high-level meeting to discuss a fresh policy framework for building new airports in the country, even as civil aviation minister Ajit Singh has put on hold UPA's last-gasp infrastructure drive to privatise six large airports, instructing officials to wait till the next government comes into power.

The Planning Commission's infrastructure division has scheduled a meeting on April 29 with top bureaucrats, chairmen of leading financiers, industry experts and prospective global investors to discuss a new model concession agreement for greenfield airports built under public-private partnerships, or PPPs. 'This is an official-level consultation and no final decisions are expected to be taken,' Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.

'While it is appropriate to put award of contracts on hold until a new government is in place, there is no reason why normal consultations at official level on technical matters should be postponed,' he told ET, stressing that this exercise is not about privatising existing airports but building new airports that states are keen on.State governments are interested in greenfield airports.

ET