GVK achieves financial closure for Navi Mumbai airport

GVK Group today said it has achieved financial closure for construction of the first phase of the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA).

"I am extremely happy that we have achieved the financial closure on schedule. This will now enable us to focus on the next steps, which is the construction and completion of the first phase of yet another landmark airport in India," said Navi Mumbai International Airport Executive chairman G V K Reddy in a statement here.

The infrastructure major had bagged the financial bid to build and operate the second international airport in the Mumbai metropolitan region - Navi Mumbai - at an investment of Rs 16,000 crore this year, beating rival GMR group.

The airport is a public-private partnership venture in which the GVK-led Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd has a 74 per cent stake with CIDCO, the Maharashtra government's nodal agency for the project, holding the remaining 26 per cent.

GVK Mumbai International Airport was declared the winning bidder for the greenfield international airport that will be built on 1,160 hectares in phases and will eventually cater to 60 million passengers per year.

The initial concession period is 30 years from the appointed date which is extendable for a further 10 years.

The concession agreement for Navi Mumbai International Airport was signed on January 8, 2018 between Navi Mumbai International Airport and City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO).

GVK, which currently manages the Mumbai International Airport through its subsidiary GVK Airport Developers, said Yes Bank would be the lead bank and mandate lead arranger for phase I and phase II of the airport project.