Navi Mumbai airport contract expected by end of December

The City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) has extended the deadline for submission of request for proposal (RFP) for the Navi Mumbai International Airport up to November 7 from mid-October. This was necessary after Hiranandani Developers and its consortium partner Zurich Airport received security clearance from the Union home ministry in the second week of August, allowing it to file RFP.

CIDCO on Thursday revealed its revised schedule for RFP submission during its meeting with Jayant Sinha, Union minister of civil aviation. Earlier, Sinha conducted an aerial survey of the Navi Mumbai airport site.

A CIDCO official, who did not want to be named, told Business Standard, “Hiranandani Developers, which was the qualified bidder, had approached us with a request to grant enough time to submit RFP after the Union home ministry’s security clearance. We have therefore extended the submission date up to November 7 so that

Hiranandani Developers, its consortium partner Zurich Airport , and other three qualified bidders including GMR Delhi, the GVK-led Mumbai International Airport Ltd, MIA Infrastructure of France and Tata Realty can file their RFPs.'' He informed that the airport project entails an investment of     Rs 16,000 crore.

The official said CIDCO hopes to award the airport contract to the successful bidder by December 2016 so that the project development can kick off.

However, the official admitted that the project was yet to get final forest clearance, crucial to begin project development. Besides, CIDCO will have to expedite pre-development works like levelling of ground, flattening or cutting of hills/hillocks and clearing of green patches after the withdrawal of monsoon. Despite these hitches, CIDCO expects the first phase to handle 10 million passengers annually by December 2019.