The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its ex-post facto approval for signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which was signed in November, 2015 between Airports Authority of India (On behalf of Government of India) and Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (On behalf of Government of Singapore) in Civil Aviation during Prime Minister’s visit to Singapore.
What is the Objective?
The objective of this MoU is to establish mutual cooperation in the field of civil aviation, which will cover, to begin with, the airports of Jaipur and Ahmedabad. This cooperation will be extended to other airports with mutual consent.
Salient Features
The salient features of the MoU include collaboration in Civil Aviation Sector in the areas of
(a) Master-planning and design
(b) Traffic development
(c) Commercial development
(d) Service quality improvement
(e) Training and development
(f) Cargo handling and Management
(g) Maintenance, repair and overhaul
(h) Operation and management and
(i) any other areas with mutual consent.
Government of Singapore owns one of the best managed airports in the world, which has consistently maintained its ranking for last many years. Globally, limited operation and maintenance (O&M) contract models are prevalent for the entire airport operations. AAI has no previous experience in awarding O&M contract model of terminal buildings to other entities. In order to implement the decision, it was necessary to ensure that a suitable entity be engaged for undertaking the O&M contract at Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports.
