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Tata,Adani among firms in fray for four airports
Feb 11 2015

Tata and Adani are among nine companies that have evinced interest in developing the four brownfield airports in
Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Jaipur, which are up for privatisation.
Besides home-grown airport developers GMR and GVK, international players like IBDF Zurich and Siemens are also in
the fray.
Nine private companies are interested in taking up the airport projects for which request for qualification (RFQ) has
been invited, a government official said. The government proposes to grant a 30-year concession period for the four
airports, but some developers want it to be much longer.
The aviation ministry and airport regulator AERA (Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India) will have to bring
in regulatory clarity on tariff, which is a key area of concern. Good bids will augur well for the forthcoming greenfield
airports at Navi Mumbai, Mopa and Agra, said Amber Dubey, partner and India head of aerospace and defence at
global consultancy KPMG.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) had earlier invited initial global tender for operation, development and
management of the four major airports even as the employee unions protested against the move.
The unions say a lot of public money has already been spent on developing the airports and they will not allow the
government to give away these facilities to private firms.
AAI has spent about Rs 5,000 crore in modernising Kolkata and Chennai airports. The government has made a series of
flipflops on airport privatisation before finally deciding to go ahead with the plan in December.
The UPA government had invited tenders for privatising six airports Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow
and Guwahati at the fag end of its tenure. but could not make much progress due to stiff opposition from the political
parties.
The NDA government reviewed the plan in May last year and decided not to privatise airports after due deliberations.
Later, the government said that only the Ahmedabad airport would be developed on a public-private partnership (PPP)
basis. But in D-ecember 2014, the Modi-led NDA government surprised many by inviting bids for four airports,
including those in Kolkata and Chennai.
In 2013, the UPA government had floated a global tender to give management contract for airports at Chennai, Kolkata,
Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow and Guwahati to private firms by 2014. However, the move did not take off.
2011 Financial Chronicle, All rights reserved
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