Rel Infra may bag small airport deals

Mumbai: Reliance Infrastructure, part of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, is learnt to have emerged as the highest bidder to develop and operate small airports at Nanded, Latur, Yavatmal, Baramati and Osmanabad in Maharashtra, a state government official said. Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), the nodal agency for the project, is expected to award the contract this week, if not Monday, he added.
If Reliance Infra wins the bid, it will mark R-ADAG’s entry into the country’s fledging airport development space. The group had made an abortive attempt to win the contract for the modernisation of Delhi airport three years ago.
The scope of the contract for these five airports includes design, develop, finance, operate, maintain and manage for 95 years. The other bidders are learnt to be GVK, Lanco Infratech, Maytas Infrastructure and Essel Infraprojects.
However, this could not be independently verified with these firms. When contacted by ET, Reliance Infrastructure spokesperson declined to comment on this. The five airports will initially be used for cargo handling before being turned into full-fledged commercial ones. They will also house aviation academies. Mumbai-based Darashaw is the consultant for the project.
An analyst said the opportunity in the airport infrastructure space was huge as Indian airports were estimated to handle 100 million passengers and 3.4 million tonne of cargo every year beginning 2020.
20/07/09 Mithun Roy/Economic Times

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Categories: Airports Jul 2009, merchant airports jul 2009, New Jul 2009