The Hindu Business Line : Delhi, Mumbai airports revamp — Govt to finalise 2 bidders in first week of December

THE Government will finalise the two successful bidders for modernising and restructuring Delhi and Mumbai airports and expedite the 68 Boeing aircraft fleet acquisition proposal of Air India during the first week of December.

The empowered Group of Ministers (e-GoM) that will decide on the names of the bidders for the two metro airports is likely to meet "on or around" December 5, sources said.

"The report of the global technical advisors (GTA) for the project is being examined by an Inter-Ministerial Group right now. We plan to send all the bids of all the six parties in the fray to the e-GoM before taking a final decision on who the successful bidders are," a senior Government official said.

While refusing to divulge details of the GTA report, the sources indicated that the three most successful bids were those of Reliance, GMR and Starlite.

The Government has received six bids from top-notch industrial houses interested in participating in the restructuring of the Mumbai airport and five for the Delhi airport. The five bidders for Delhi airport included GMR that had teamed up with the operators of Frankfurt airport, Fraport; Reliance that had submitted a bid with ASA Mexico; D.S. Construction that had a tie-up with the Munich airport; Macquire that tied up with Airport de Paris, and the Essel Group in association with Turkish airport operator TAV. For the Mumbai airport, the Government has also received a bid from the GVK group that has a tie-up with the South African Airport.

Asked about the status of the AI fleet acquisition proposal, the sources said that the process for getting the clearance of the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) had already started. "The CCEA meeting is expected to take place shortly. There is every possibility that an empowered Group of Ministers (e-GoM) will be set up to examine the proposal for a final time before AI is given the go-ahead to purchase the aircraft," the sources said.

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