Continuing its plans to modernise 35 non-metro airports in the country, the airports authority of india (AAI) announced on Thursday that it has begun the process of legal due diligence for the airports with the appointment of a legal advisor for the process.

?The AAI has appointed MV Kini & Co, Mumbai as Legal Advisor for providing legal advisory services for the city side development of the four non-metro airports?Amritsar, Udaipur, Trichi and Vizag,? a statement from the ministry of civil aviation said.

?The Legal Adviser will be advising the AAI on all legal matters associated with the successful conduct of the bidding process and execution of the Concession Agreement with the select bidder,? the statement added.

Earlier this month, Minister of Civil Aviation, Praful Patel informed the Parliament that the target date for completion of the modernisation process of the 35 non-metro airports by the Airports Authority of India (AAI)has been set for March 2010.

Patel said that new terminal buildings expandable on modular basis were being constructed at Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Aurangabad, Agatti, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Goa, Jaipur, Lucknow, Indore, Khajuraho, Madurai, Mangalore, Port Blair, Ranchi, Raipur, Rajkot, Trivandrum, Trichy, Udaipur, Varanasi and Vishakhapatnam airports.

Modification and expansion work of existing terminal buildings was being undertaken at airports in Agra, Agartala, Coimbatore, Dimapur, Guwahati, Imphal, Jammu, Nagpur, Patna, Pune and Vadodara, Patel told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question.

Airside works including expansion and strengthening of runway for wide bodied aircraft operations, extension and new construction of apron for more parking space for aircrafts, link taxiways and parallel taxi tracks are being taken up at these airports as per requirement, Patel said.

At around 24 of these non-metro airports, cityside development through Public Private Partnership is being undertaken. Request for Bid for pre-qualification have received an overwhelming response for the airports at Amritsar and Udaipur.