GMR to upgrade Istanbul's 2nd airport

GMR Infrastructure Ltd, which is currently modernising the Delhi airport and also building the new airport in Hyderabad, has bagged the tender for developing the Sabiha Gokcen International (SGA) airport in Istanbul, Turkey.

This is the first time that an Indian airport developer has bagged a tender for the development of an international airport under a build operate and transfer (BOT) scheme.

SGA is the second airport in Istanbul besides Istanbul Ataturk airport.

The ¤400 million modernisation project will be taken up by a consortium which has GMR (40 per cent), Limak (40 per cent), a construction company in Turkey, and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (20 per cent), which is GMR's partner in the Hyderabad project. The project will be implemented through a special purpose vehicle.

The development project involves construction of a new international airport terminal, which will see the total annual passenger capacity go up to 10 million from the current 3.5 million.

Till the new terminal is built, the developers will manage the two existing terminals (international and domestic). Once the international terminal is ready, the two existing terminals will be merged into one domestic terminal.

The term of concession would be for 20 years. Instead of a revenue sharing model, as in the case of the Delhi airport, the developers have to pay a concession fee of ¤1.93 billion over the concession period.