Govt defers decision on Centaur land transfer to DIAL as Air India objects

NEW DELHI: The Civil Aviation Ministry has deferred a decision on handing over of the Centaur Hotel land to DIAL for airport expansion till next year after Air India raised “objection” over the issue. The Centaur in Delhi is one of the two hotels operated by Hotel Corporation of India (HCI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India.

The property is on the land leased from Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the lease period is to end in 2032. As part of its revised Master Plan for IGI Airport, which has already been approved by the Civil Aviation Ministry, DIAL has proposed further development of landside, terminals and airside facilities to correspond to the projected traffic growth in next 20 years.

It also proposes expansion of passenger handling capacity of the IGI Airport from the existing 62 million passengers per annum (MPPA) to 109.3 million MPPA in a phased manner. Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) had last year written to the ministry for taking possession of the hotel land as part of these plans.

“Following this, the ministry asked Air India to vacate the building complex at the earliest. However, Air India wrote back to the Ministry, saying that since it is already working on plans to revive the hotel, it will not be feasible to transfer the property at this stage,” official sources said.

The ministry has accepted Air India's plea and accordingly deferred a decision on the issue till the first quarter of the next calendar year, they said. DIAL is a joint venture between Gmr-led consortium and Airports Authority of India. In the JV, while GMR group holds 64 per cent stake, mini-ratna Public Sector Undertaking AAI has 26 per cent ownership. The rest 10 per cent is with German airport operator Fraport.

“Delhi Airport has been witnessing unprecedented air traffic growth in the last two years. To meet this growth, DIAL has prepared a comprehensive master plan which has been approved by MOCA and AAI in 2016. Among other areas, the land parcel on which Centaur Hotel is located is required for the development of various aviation facilities as per the master plan and these facilities are to be ready for use by 2021,” a DIAL spokesperson said.

Besides, as per OMDA (operations, management and development) and the lease deed executed between DIAL and AAI, the Centaur Hotel and its adjoining land is part of the existing leases, which are required to be transferred to DIAL whenever required by it for development of aviation facilities, the spokesperson said.

“In view of the airport development requirement, AAI had issued the Termination Notice on 08.11.2016 to Centaur Hotel and advised them to vacate and hand over the land to AAI within the notice period,” the airport operator said. DIAL is abiding by the terms and conditions laid down in the OMDA and lease deed executed with AAI, he added.