Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (KSIDC), the State-owned agency for industrial and investment promotion, and two private players have submitted bids for operating, managing and developing the Thiruvananthapuram international airport for 50 years.
GMR Group, the leading airport developer and operator, and Adani Group, which is behind the upcoming Vizhinjam International Deepwater seaport project in the State capital, are the two private players in the race.
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The GMR Group and the Adani Group are also among the bidders for five more airports in the country now managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and identified for privatisation by the Centre. The airports are Mangaluru, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, and Guwahati. For Mangaluru, Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL), the operator of the Cochin international airport at Nedumbaserry, is one of the bidders.
The bids for all the airports were opened in New Delhi on Saturday evening as per the tender schedule fixed by the AAI. The bidders will now be short-listed based on the Technical Capacity and Financial Capacity.
The scrutiny of the bids has commenced and the financial bid of those who qualify the technical norms will be opened on February 25, sources in the AAI say. The Letter of Award (LOA) will be issued on February 28 to the selected concessionaire.
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Pre-bid conference
At the pre-bid conference in New Delhi last month, representatives of 11 entities interested in bidding for the airport in the State capital had participated.The number of bidders for the Thiruvananthapuram airport was the highest among the six airports for which the Request For Proposal (RFP) were floated by the AAI. However, there was some lack of interest shown later, and this surprised all quarters who were keenly watching the bidding.
The selected concessionaire will be responsible for operations and management of the airport assets as well as for further development of the facilities.