The Naini Saini airport in the hilly Pithoragarh district has hit yet another roadblock, after the Uttarakhand government cancelled the tender process for hiring a private design consultancy firm on technical grounds.
“There were some technical reasons due to which we cancelled the tender process,” said Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Indu Kumar Pande. The government intends to invest Rs 45 crore for the upgradation and modernisation of the Naini Saini airport in the picturesque Pithoragarh for promoting tourism.
Official sources said the government is now likely to handover the upgradation and modernisation work of the airport to its own newly formed company — Uttarakhand Infrastructure Corporation Ltd. A decision in this regard is likely to be taken shortly.
“As of now, it looks like that the government would like to keep private players out of the airport expansion programme,’ said an official source.
The Civil Aviation department had invited tenders from various companies to suggest designing of the Naini Saini airport. After the evaluation process, the government was zeroing on engineer consultant and project manager RITES.
But the Airport Planner and Design, a private company, raised objections over the tender procedure saying it quoted lower rates than RITES and threatened to move the court.
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Sensing trouble, the government cancelled the entire tender process. This has also put a question mark on whether private players would be allowed to develop the infrastructure of the airport.
Early this year, the department shortlisted five Expressions of Interest (EIs) for building the infrastructure of Pithoragarh airport despite the objections raised by the Finance ministry. The Finance ministry wanted Nani Saini airport to be developed under the PPP mode.
Setting aside the objections of the Finance ministry, the department asked all the five companies to send their technical and financial bids. But so far, the civil aviation department is yet to take a final decision in this regard.
The government has so far spent Rs 22-24 crore for acquiring 17.8 hectare of land for the Pithoragarh airport, where 85 people were given compensation at the rate of Rs 1200-1300 per nali.
Under the modernisation plan, the airport is being upgraded to facilitate the landing of 70-72 ATR aircraft. The airstrip of the airport would be made 1,650 meter long and 60 meter wide. A separate terminal building will also be constructed.