The tender for finalisation of the agency for handling of international cargo at Visakhapatnam International Airport has failed once again with the single bidder not able to meet the required parameters. This is despite the Airports Authority of India (AAI) reducing the monthly rental from Rs.6.5 lakh to Rs.3.5 lakh.
“On the plea of prospective bidders that they were not expecting much volumes of cargo, we reduced the licence fee rent by half after getting the approval of our higher authorities. We have also reduced the cargo storage area and told them they could go for additional storage space as and when their volumes increase,” Airport Director Vinod Sharma said.
“We (AAI) also agreed to forego our share in the grand tonne overweight for two years in view of the apprehensions of poor volumes expressed by the bidders. In spite of all our efforts, only a single party came and he too failed to meet the stipulated norms,” Mr. Sharma told The Hindu , when asked about the undue delay in the starting of international cargo operations from the Integrated Cargo Terminal at the airport. A decision on the next course of action is yet to be taken.
“There were apprehensions of poor volumes prior to the tender process for the finalisation of operator for the domestic cargo terminal. The domestic cargo handler - Delex Cargo – has started making very good profits within four months after starting operations, about one-and-a-half years ago.”
The airport registered a 135 per cent growth in domestic cargo in 2015-16 as compared to the previous year. A
Parking Bays
The Airport Director said: “The work on construction of six more parking bays for aircraft is in progress and is expected to be completed as per schedule by June 2017. The soil consolidation work is on and would take about three months. The concrete works would be taken up only after as per laid down norms.”
