CIDCO Gets Only One Bid For Navi Mumbai Airport, Extends Deadline By 15 Days
Will Navi Mumbai Airport meet its 2019 deadline?
The City and Industrial Development Corporation, the nodal agency for the Navi Mumbai Airport, has extended the deadline for submission of bids by another 15 days.
The GVK-led Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), the lone bidder which also has the right of refusal, submitted its offer on Monday.
“We received one bid. Therefore, we have given 15 days’ extension,” said Bhushan Gagrani, vice-chairman and managing director of CIDCO.
Delayed Take-Off?
The alternate airport in Mumbai has been on the drawing board for two decades, mostly due to delays in land acquisition. However, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that the first flight from the airport would take off in 2019.
Of the four bidders, three – GMR group, Tata Realty and Hiranandani Group-Zurich Airport consortium – pulled out of the bidding process for the Rs 16,000-crore project last week, citing onerous conditions and delays in pre-development work.
A single bid for the prestigious and critical Navi Mumbai project is affirmation of our stand that onerous conditions pertaining to project implementation, timelines and concession terms need to be addressed on priority to enable a wider participationOfficial Spokesperson of GMR Airports
Rajeev Jain, CEO of MIAL, said, “Yes, we are very much in the race. We have submitted our bid which means we are confident about the project... whatever (the) timelines.”
The right of refusal means if another bidder quotes within 10 percent of MIAL’s offer, the GVK-led company can match and take it forward, Jain added. If required, MIAL, which also built the Mumbai airport, can also re-quote the offer the next time the bid opens, he added.
Jain also hoped that the bidding would be closed in the next fortnight and there won’t be any further delays.
The nodal agency CIDCO has already postponed the submission date for bids for the airport contract twice. The bidding was to take place in November and the final contract was to be handed out by December, an official from CIDCO had earlier told BloombergQuint.