GMR Airports gets LoA for development and operations at Bhogapuram in Andhra Pradesh

GMR Airports Ltd said on Monday it has received a letter of award for development and operations of a greenfield international airport at Bhogapuram in Andhra Pradesh.

In February 2019, the company had emerged as the highest bidder for the project on a public-private partnership basis.

The project involves the design, build, finance, construction, development, up-gradation, modernisation, operation and maintenance of greenfield international airport at Bhogapuram for a period of 40 years, extendable by additional 20 years through an international competitive bidding process, with GMR airports limited having the right of first refusal of 10 per cent.

In the calendar year 2019, the existing civil enclave at Vishakapatnam Naval Airfield handled 2.78 million passengers and 4,400 tonnes of cargo. Over the past five years, the passenger traffic at Vizag airport has grown at 21 per cent CAGR while the airport ranks fifth among the custom airports in India in terms of cargo traffic.

The proposed greenfield airport site lies on the border of Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram districts and is 45 km from Visakhapatnam through NH-5 and 25 km from Vizianagaram via NH-43. The site is strategically located on the east coast and stands to get benefit from the vast catchment area surrounding the region.

Besides, the beach corridor development is underway near the proposed international airport in Bhogapuram which will provide impetus to retail and hospitality developments in the region, the company said in a statement.