Six consortia, including those led by Reliance Energy, Essel Group, Sterlite and GMR, on Wednesday pitched for participating in the ambitious Rs 5,400 crore (Rs 54 billion) modernisation programme of Delhi and Mumbai airports, and the government will decide on the successful bidders by year end.
Brushing aside the reservations expressed by Singapore-based Changi Airport Enterprises and Germany's Hochtief Airport that forced Bharti and L&T-Piramal Holding consortia to abort plans to participate, five of the six consortium bid for both Rs 2,800 crore (Rs 28 billion) Delhi and Rs 2,600 crore (Rs 26 billion) Mumbai airport modernisation and restructuring programme.
GVK Industries led consortium bid for only Mumbai airport at the aviation ministry headquarter at Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, which witnessed a minor commotion over Subhash Chandra's Essel Group-promoted PanIndia Paryatan-TAV consortium's bid with some competitors protesting against its acceptance minutes after 1700 hours deadline.
Giving details, Civil Aviation Secretary Ajay Prasad told reporters: "We have received six bids for Mumbai and five for Delhi. The entire process (of evaluating technical and financial bids, respectively) will be completed by the end of the year."
The response by participants was termed 'overwhelming', particularly after the resistance shown by Changi and Hochtief over some of the bid conditions, but Prasad said there was no change in the tender conditions.
Those who submitted their bids to the civil aviation ministry include Reliance Energy, Essel Group, GVK and GMR consortia.
Reliance Airport Developers Pvt Ltd-Reliance Energy Ltd-Aeropuertos Servicios Auxiliiare (ASA), GMR Infrastructure Ltd-GMR Energy-Fraport AG India Development Fund-Malaysia Airport Sdn Bhd, Essel Group consortia have submitted their bids for both Mumbai and Delhi airports.
The Bharti group had, on September 12, announced it was withdrawing from the bidding process after its collaborator Changi Airport of Singapore had expressed its unwillingness to commit to key terms of the tender.
Another major player L&T had to opt out of the process after its German partner Hochtief Airport GmbH also decided to opt out of the bidding process.
