GMR Airports Limited (GAL), a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure Ltd, announced that it has received the Letter of Award (LoA) for the development and operations of a greenfield international airport at Bhogapuram in Andhra Pradesh from the State government on Monday. It may be recallled that in February 2019, GAL had emerged as the highest bidder for the project on a PPP basis.
The project involves design, build, finance, construction, development, up-gradation, modernization, operation and maintenance of the 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 RoFR of 10 per cent.
Last year, the existing civil enclave at Vishakapatnam Naval Airfield has handled 2.78 million passengers and ~4400 tonnes cargo. Over the past five years, passenger traffic at the Vizag airport has grown at 21 per cent CAGR, and the airport ranked fifth amongst the custom airports in India in terms of cargo traffic.
Strategic location
The proposed greenfield airport site lies on the border of Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram districts, and is approximately 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 it stands to benefit from the vast catchment area surrounding the region.
Moreover, the beach corridor development is underway in proximity to the proposed airport which will provide impetus to retail and hospitality developments in the region, said an official spokesman.
“We are very happy to be partnering with the Government of Andhra Pradesh to develop, operate and manage the prestigious Bhogapuram International Airport. We are excited about the potential of this region,” said business chairman of GMR Airports, GBS Raju.
