Switzerland's Zurich Airport International AG has topped the bidding war for the Rs 4,588-crore first phase of the proposed airport at Jewar on the outskirts of Delhi by outbidding GMR and Adani groups, media reports say. However, the GMR group that runs the Indira Gandhi International Airport can still win the bid by making a matching offer exercising its first right of refusal clause that it signed with the government while taking over the IGI Airport.
Under the term, GMR Group will have the first right of refusal to build any airport within a 150km radius of IGI. The Jewar airport in Uttar Pradesh will be about 100km from IGI.
Total outlay
Jewar will be the third airport to serve the National Capital Region after IGI and Hindon airport, which is a hub for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's UDAAN scheme for linking underserved and unserved sectors at subsidized rates.
Zurich group offered the highest revenue share on per passenger basis to the government and thus became the top bidder, according to a report in Livemint. Apart from GMR and Adani Group, the Anchorage Infrastructure Investments Holdings Limited was also in the race.
The technical bid opened on November 6 and the four bidders were qualified on November 27
Zurich Airport International AG, a subsidiary of Flughafen Zurich AG, which runs Switzerland's largest airport at Zurich and has the provincial government of the Zurich Swiss canton and Zurich City as major shareholders. The company owns 100 per cent of Brazil's Hercílio Luz International Airport under a concession that will end only in and 2047. It also has a stake in the operation of Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport Limited. It has acquired stakes in Belo Horizonte Colombian capital Bogota, Curacao, Antofagasta, and Iquiquealso. It is in the process of acquiring concessions in more airports in Latin America
The technical bid opened on November 6 and the four bidders were qualified on November 27. The first phase of the airport would be spread over 1,334 hectare and is expected to be completed by 2023, the report said citing officials of the Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL), the nodal agency for the airport project. The airport is expected to have a final capital outlay of Rs 29,560 crore will eventually have six to eight runways.
The airport will be located at Gautam Buddh Nagar district in the outskirts of NCR. The bidding started on May 30. The bidding was held after years of delay after it was first proposed in 2001 by the then UP chief minister Rajnath Singh, who is now the chief minister.
