The Hindu Business Line : EoI invited for advisors to develop city-side of airports

THE Government has invited an Expression of Interest (EoI) for the appointment of Global Technical Advisors (GTAs) to develop the city-side of 10 non-metro airports, which include those in Mangalore, Madurai and Thiruvananthapuram.

The GTAs will provide technical advisory services and submit an action plan on private sector participation in the development of city-side facilities at the airports.

Sources indicated that a special purpose vehicle (SPV) may be constituted with the Airports Authority of India, the joint venture partner, the State Government and financial institutions, among others, for operation and management of the city-side of each airport.

The development of city-side at the airports includes facilities and services in the terminal building, land side facilities and services for facilitation of passengers and visitors, cargo and courier terminals and other commercial facilities relating to non-aeronautical revenue.

The other airports to be included in the first list of 10 non-metro airports are those in Goa, Guwahati, Jaipur, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Amritsar and Udaipur. The project must be completed within 15 months from the time the GTA is signed.

As in the case of modernisation and restructuring of airports in Delhi and Mumbai, the AAI will invite private sector participation.The private sector partner will be selected through an international competitive bidding process. A joint venture will be formed between the selected partner and the AAI. The 10 non-metro airports had traffic of 5,60,718 aircraft, saw more than 4.39 crore passengers pass through them including more than 1.48 crore international passengers and handled more than 9.8 lakh tonnes of cargo during the financial year 2002-03.

The AAI, at present, manages 125 airports in the country and is responsible for planning, developing and construction of aerodromes and allied facilities for sustained civil aviation growth in India.