Sonia is likely to visit Hyderabad on Wednesday.
The Civil Aviation Ministry was of the view that naming the airport after Rajiv was only appropriate, given the former PM’s avid interest in the sector. The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tonight. The Cabinet had, on December 15 last year, approved the concession agreement for construction of the new airport at Shamsabad, 20 km from the existing airport.
Within a week of the approval, the agreement was signed between the Centre and Hyderabad International Airport Limited (HIAL) to facilitate the construction of the airport at an approximate Rs 1,385 crore. The major stakeholder is the private consortium comprising GMR Infrastructure Ltd and Malaysia Airports Holdings, Berhad.
