TAKE-OFF POINT
The Maharashtra government has initiated the process of selecting the developer for the ~16,000-crore Navi Mumbai airport project, eight months after a tender found the GVK group eligible for award.
The project monitoring and implementation committee headed by Chief Secretary Sumit Mullick will meet next Wednesday to approve the GVK group’s bid and recommend it to the state Cabinet for final approval. The letter of award will be issued to the developer upon Cabinet approval and a concession agreement will be signed subsequently.
The financial bids for the project were opened in February. GVK-group run Mumbai International Airport pipped the GMR group to bag the project, offering a higher revenue share to the implementing authority, City and Industrial Development Organisation (Cidco).
Pre-development works for the project began in June, but the government sat on the proposal to select the developer for eight months, delaying the project further. Both the bidders have been asked to extend their bank guarantees given along with bids till November, as final approval has not been given yet.
The airport project has been in the planning stages since the 1990s, but | | | MIALpipped GMR group to bag the Navi Mumbai airport project, offering higher revenue share in February Bids not finalised and award letter not issued
A state government committee will meet next Wednesday to recommend the bid for approval The first phase of the ~16,000-crore project is expected to be complete by December 2019. Aviation experts, however, call this deadline unrealistic has faced delays and roadblocks in land acquisition and environmental clearances. Cidco Managing Director Bhushan Gagrani reiterated the first phase of the airport will be operational by December 2019. The airport will handle 10 million passengers in its first phase and is seen as an alternative to the constrained airport of Mumbai. Aviation experts, however, believe the 2019-end deadline to be unrealistic.
A GVK spokesperson said there is unnecessary and unwarranted speculation regarding delays in the bid award. “We are the successful bidder and, hence, expecting our bid to be honoured.”