AAI extends bid date for airport development plan.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has yet again extended the deadline for submitting bids for developing four state-owned airports on the PPP model delaying the airport privatisation plan. Airport developers participating in the two-stage bid process can now submit their request for qualification (RFQ) till July 1.

The state-controlled airport operator had last December invited the RFQ for the four airports requesting private developers to submit their initial application by March 24. It, however, extended the submission date to May 26 following a flurry of queries from potential participants on formula for determining airport tariff, manpower re-deployment and issues related to cross-subsidisation of non-core revenues.

'This time we have extended the date because of some procedural issues,' said an official in the nodal aviation ministry emphasising that the PPP was very much on track.

As privatisation triggered fears of layoffs among the AAI staff working at the four airports, its unionised employees started protesting against the government's plan to hand over the airports to private companies.

Airports Authority Employees Union (AAEU) general secretary Balraj Singh Ahlawat led the protest and served a strike notice to the airport agency but reconsidered its decision after chief labour commissioner intervened.

The union has maintained that AAI should not give out these facilities to private companies as nearly Rs. 6,000 crore has been spent in upgrading the airports to international standard and there was resource gap.

'AAI has spent huge money in modernising the four airports especially Chennai and Kolkata. Now that the time has to earn from these airports the governments to privatise them,” claimed an AAI official who did not wish to be named.

The four airports to be bid out on the PPP model are estimated to require a combined investment of Rs. 1,839 crore. The scope of work at these airports, as laid out in the RFQ document, includes further upgradation of terminal building, runway and other city-side infrastructure among others.

The aviation ministry had earlier said group firms of Adani and Tata apart from existing developers GMR and GVK had shown interest in placing initial bid for the airport projects.


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