PUNE: Maharasthra’s Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said the lack of new airports in the Pune-Mumbai region was his biggest regret.

He made the comments as delays continue to plague construction of a new international airport in Chakan, near Pune.

"Although the project to build Chakan airport has been in place for a long time, we have still not seen any new airports coming up in the Pune-Mumbai region. This is my biggest moment of sadness, mainly because I am from Maharashtra," Patel told reporters on Monday.

"It is surprising to see that there is no new airport coming up … Singapore's Changi Airport International is building new airports through a consortium in West Bengal's Durgapur and Asansol, and Ludhiana in Punjab," Patel said.

Patel said he was likely to hold a meeting on the issue with the Maharashtra government next week.

He was speaking at a press conference after jointly launching a three-day executive program on airports and airline systems with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Office of Professional Education and the Lavasa Corporation, which has contracted the Hindustan Constructions Company (HCC) to develop the first hill city near Pune.

"Pune requires a second airport in order to provide better connectivity. With a growing number of international companies and educational institutes like MIT showing a keen interest in India, especially in the Pune region, the private sector should make use of the government's new greenfield projects policy, which encourages private investment in the development of airport infrastructure in the country," Patel said, citing Lavasa city as an example of a purely private project.

He said that the City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco), the township and industrial infrastructure arm of the Maharashtra government, has acquired 75 percent of land needed for the proposed international airport at Navi Mumbai.

"Tenders for the proposed Navi Mumbai airport are likely to be rolled out in the next six months. The airport is already delayed by three years. We expect the first phase of construction to be operational by 2013. We are awaiting final clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest," the minister said.

Meanwhile, the government has approved a new airport at Sawantwadi in the Konkan region of Maharashtra.