In a move that could further delay the Navi Mumbai airport project, the state administration has agreed to extend the tendering process by a month to mid-July.
The decision of the state's project management implementation committee (PMIC) to extend the date for submission of request for qualification (RFQ) to July 18 from June 18 comes after the nodal implementing authority CIDCO or City & Industrial Development Corporation sought an extension.
The CIDO move for more time came after some of the interested parties sought more time to prepare their bidding documents and also more clarity on certain conditions.
Following this, the eight-member PIMC headed by the state chief secretary, requested the civil aviation ministry to extend the RFQ date.
The over Rs 14,000-crore airport project, conceived 27 years ago, has been held up due to issues relating to land acquisition and environment clearances.
Earlier, CIDCO had fixed June 18 as the date for RFQ submission. However, the bidders sought some more time from the nodal agency, forcing it to approach the committee.
"As per the requests received in the pre-bid conference, the PMIC has approved and recommended to the civil aviation ministry for extending the date by one month," CIDCO Managing Director Sanjay Bhatia told PTI.
The project is already delayed by almost four years as CIDCO was to commence work on the proposed airport way back in 2010.
RFQ is the first stage of the bidding process and those who are found eligible in this round can bid in the request for proposal.
CIDCO had in December last year got a go-ahead from the aviation ministry to invite private bids for the airport coming off the eastern coast of the city and is within 65 km from the existing airport. This was followed by a pre-bid conference, in which around 20 bidders evinced interest in the project.
The project, which will come up on 1,160 hectares of land, will be built in four phases. The first phase with an annual capacity of 10 million passengers will be completed by 2018. After the completion of the whole project, it will cater to about 60 million passengers a year.
After several months of hectic negotiations, the project-affected persons (PAPs) finally agreed to the state's offer of 22.5 per cent developed land for every hectare of land acquired.
Of the 2,268 hectares required for the airport project, 1,572 hectares is already in CIDCO 's possession.
