Kolkata, June 26 (IANS) Infrastructure such as new airports and perishable cargo facilities are under-utilised and need to be marketed better to tide over the slowdown, a senior central government official said here Friday.
Participating in an interactive session with members of the Merchants Chamber of Commerce, Civil Aviation Secretary M. Madhavan Nambiar said the ministry was looking at ways to ensure how “we can work together in this year of recession” to ensure proper utilisation of infrastructure.

“The civil aviation ministry is concerned at the under-utilisation of airports. Sustainability will be lost if new airports are not marketed properly,” Nambiar said.

To buttress his point, the secretary cited the examples of Cooch Behar Airport in West Bengal. “AAI (Airport Authority of India) had invested Rs.150 billion for it, but is not being utilised. This is a matter of concern for all of us,” he said.

Nambiar said he would talk to the state government to find ways to ensure proper utilisation of the facility.

Though Kolkata has the potential to emerge as a cargo hub, only 10 percent of the perishable cargo facility at the NSC Bose International Airport here was being utilised, he added.

Nambiar said the proposal to set up merchant airports in 35 non-metro cities would be implemented in a phased manner.

“We don’t want to invest so much now. That’s the reason we invited private players. But not many private players have come. We are also interested in the PPP (public-private model) model. International partners are also welcome”.