New Delhi [India], May 29 (ANI): Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday said that there is a plan to invest Rs 1 lakh crores in airports in the coming days.

Scindia also said that the government has detailed expansion plans for airports and metros.

While speaking exclusively to ANI, Scindia said, "In the past 65 years, we had 74 airports in India. In the last 9 years, we have built additional 74 airports, heliports, and water aerodromes. We will double it to 148 and we will take this number to over 200 in the next 4 years. Combining the private and government sectors, we are planning to invest Rs 1 lakh crores on airports.""We have made a plan for investment including the private sector and the government sector, we have a plan which is worth about one lakh crore only in the airport area. Along with this, the throughput capacity of our six metros, which we have there, is 22 crores per year, within the next four years, we will take us up to 42 crores and including Jewar and Navi Mumbai airports," he added.

He also mentioned that the airlines in India are also increasing their capacity.

"We have huge and determined plans in the civil aviation sector, airlines are also increasing their capacity, Air India has placed orders for 470, about 420 are narrow-body planes and 50 are wide-body planes. India's flag is also being established globally by airlines," he said.

Earlier today while lauding the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government upon completion of nine years in office, he also said that during this period India's image has changed from "colonial to self-reliant".

Listing out the achievements of the Modi government in nine years in a press conference, Scindia said, "In the last nine years, our government has not only connected the deprived and exploited people with the mainstream but has also empowered them.""Today India is the fastest growing economy with the number one smartphone data consumer, the second largest mobile manufacturer, the number one global fintech adoption rate and the third largest start-up ecosystem in the world," he added. (ANI).