AHMEDABAD: Bidding process for privatization of the city airport has again been deferred till mid April, raising question on the privatization of six major airports, including Lucknow, Kolkata and Chennai, which are developed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
This is the fourth postponement since November, when the process of privatization had formally begun. The due date of application for the request for qualification was pushed earlier from January-end to February 17 for four airports at Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow and Guwahati and to February 12 for Jaipur and Ahmedabad. These dates in February were further postponed to March 17. Now, it has been extended till April 15.
According to sources, there are still issues pertaining to agreement, which is to be signed between selected private party, AAI and civil aviation ministry. "The response by private companies to the privatization has not been very encouraging, especially for Lucknow and Guwahati, which is delaying the process. Also, with general elections coming up, the bidding will be taken up only by the new government," said an AAI official.
More than 15 companies had shown interest in taking up operations and maintenance of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, including Gujarat-based Adani
SEZ Private Ltd and Sadbhav Engineering. .
Minister of state for civil aviation had informed the Rajya Sabha last month that the government is planning to bring 14 more airports, including Bhubaneshwar, Varanasi, Indore, Udaipur, Bhopal and Vadodara, under the PPP mode.
The airport authority employees union (AAEU) has also been constantly protesting the Centre's privatization move, alleging that the government has a hidden agenda behind selling the government property.
The airports, which are being given to private parties on 30-year lease for operation and management, are located in Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Lucknow and Jaipur.
Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com