Mumbai: The Adani Group has told India’s state-run airport developer that it won’t be able to take possession of the three privatised airports in Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru this calendar year due to the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The infrastructure conglomerate has invoked the force majeure clause in the contract, several people in the know said.
The group has also asked the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to defer the deadline for payment of asset transfer fees of over Rs 1,000 crore for these airports from August to beyond December 2020, the people cited above said.
On February 14, the group had signed concession agreements with AAI to maintain, develop and operate the three airports. In 2018, it won the bid for six airports, which also includes Trivandrum, Jaipur and Guwahati but the concession agreement was signed only for Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru.
The total asset transfer fees for six airports is worth Rs 2,000 crore, said two people in the know. The fees include upfront payments to contractors for development work already assigned by AAI.
Separately, the GVK group has also cited the force majeure clause to nodal body CIDCO in Mumbai indicating it will be forced to delay the start of construction work on the Rs 16,000 crore Navi Mumbai airport project.
Force majeure refers to a clause that is included in contracts to remove liability for natural and unavoidable catastrophes.
Senior executives at AAI and CIDCO confirmed the developments and said their legal teams are looking into requests from Adani and GVK.
“The concession agreement is signed. Now Adani needs to draw and sign registration and adjudication documents and take possession of the airport. They have requested a deferment. We will try to get the money and transfer possession this financial year. It’s too premature to say anything else,” said a top AAI executive.
04/05/20 Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times
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The group has also asked the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to defer the deadline for payment of asset transfer fees of over Rs 1,000 crore for these airports from August to beyond December 2020, the people cited above said.
On February 14, the group had signed concession agreements with AAI to maintain, develop and operate the three airports. In 2018, it won the bid for six airports, which also includes Trivandrum, Jaipur and Guwahati but the concession agreement was signed only for Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru.
The total asset transfer fees for six airports is worth Rs 2,000 crore, said two people in the know. The fees include upfront payments to contractors for development work already assigned by AAI.
Separately, the GVK group has also cited the force majeure clause to nodal body CIDCO in Mumbai indicating it will be forced to delay the start of construction work on the Rs 16,000 crore Navi Mumbai airport project.
Force majeure refers to a clause that is included in contracts to remove liability for natural and unavoidable catastrophes.
Senior executives at AAI and CIDCO confirmed the developments and said their legal teams are looking into requests from Adani and GVK.
“The concession agreement is signed. Now Adani needs to draw and sign registration and adjudication documents and take possession of the airport. They have requested a deferment. We will try to get the money and transfer possession this financial year. It’s too premature to say anything else,” said a top AAI executive.
04/05/20 Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times
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