GVK Group that runs the swanky MIAL (Mumbai international airport) pipped rival GMR Group to bag the contract for the proposed facility in Navi Mumbai which will ease the severe congestion at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.
The new airport was proposed in 1997 and received the government's nod in 2007. The project got delayed due land acquisition issues securing necessary government permissions including environmental clearance.
The new airport is estimated to handle 60 million passengers by 2030 when it is expected to operate at full capacity.
Though the Maharashtra government had been talking about a 2019 commissioning deadline for long, today the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) did not say anything in this regard.
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The implementing authority of the project, CIDCO said GVK-MIAL, which anyway had the first right of refusal as it runs the present city airport, bagged the financial bid by offering 12.60 percentage points revenue share, while GMR, which runs the Delhi airport offered only 10.44 percentage points revenue.
"The evaluation committee will prepare a report on the qualified bids which will be sent to the state Cabinet for its approval and final decision about selection of the bidder," it added.
The project has for long been hit by land acquisition
issues with only two-third of what is needed acquired so far.
Commenting on the success of the financial bidding, which was postponed twice in January after three of the four bidders backed out, GVK Reddy, executive chairman, MIAL, said "This award is further testimony to our commitment that was ably demonstrated in the making of the iconic Terminal 2, along with the creation of efficient airside operations in a severely constrained Mumbai airport."
The project will be executed on public-private partnership basis, and CIDCO will bear pre-development work costs which it will recover from GVK later. CIDCO is the nodal town planning authority in the state as also builder of Navi Mumbai.
CIDCO had failed to attract any bidders at the earlier two occasions, and was forced to alter the project conditions to make it attractive for developers.
Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai airports are bursting at the seams with passenger traffic that is rising over 23 per cent every year, making India the fastest growing aviation market in the world.
For the first time, the domestic passenger traffic crossed 10 crore in 2016.
Delhi's Indira Gandhi airport was the 12th busiest airport worldwide in November 2016. It handled 5.5 crore passengers in 2016, while Mumbai airport catered to 4.4 crore passengers.