The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved leasing out three airports – Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram to the successful bidder Adani Group[1]. Gautam Adani headed Group has also won the bid for Lucknow, Ahmadabad, and Mangaluru airports under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model[2]. Adani Group lost the new Jewar Airport in Noida to Zurich Airport in the bid[3].
“The Union Cabinet accorded its approval for leasing of three Airports Authority of India (AAI) airports namely, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram for Operation, Management and Development to M/s Adani Enterprises Ltd, who is declared as the successful bidder in a Global Competitive Bidding conducted by the Airports Authority of India, for a period of fifty years,” said Government in a statement[4].
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in 2015 caught Mumbai Airport operator GVK Group for under-invoicing the revenue and CBI and ED have already registered a case against the GVK Group.
Meanwhile, Adani Group in June sought six months more to take over Lucknow, Ahmadabad, and Mangaluru airports.[5]
Addressing media, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will now concentrate on developing new airports in new areas to increase connectivity. These PPP models will bring efficiency in service delivery, expertise, enterprise, and professionalism apart from harnessing the needed investments in the public sector, he said.
As per the PPP model, the bidder has to pay the highest annual revenue share to the Airports Authority of India. The bidders make a profit through flight operations and subletting the shops in the airport and have to share the revenue with the AAI. Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in 2015 caught Mumbai Airport operator GVK Group for under-invoicing the revenue and CBI and ED have already registered a case against the GVK Group. As per the agencies, around Rs.705 crore has been fudged by GVK Group[6].
The PPP model started in 2006 by leasing out Delhi and Mumbai for Operation, Management, and Development about a decade ago. “While these PPP experiments have helped create world-class airports and helped in the delivery of efficient and quality services to the airport passengers, it has also helped AAI in enhancing its revenues and focusing on developing airports and Air Navigation infrastructure in the rest of the country. Revenue received by AAI from PPP partners enabled AAI to create infrastructure facilities in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and also to upgrade their airports to international standards. The PPP airports in India are consistently ranked among the top 5 in their respective categories by the Airports Council International (ACI) in terms of Airport Service Quality (ASQ),” said Government.
References:
[1] Cabinet approves leasing out of Jaipur, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram airports to Adani Group – Aug 19, 2020, Business Today
[2] Adani’s Plans to Privatise Airports May Go Awry – Jun 23, 2020, Newsclick
[3] How Adani Enterprises, GMR Group lost the bid for Jewar airport to Zurich Airport – Nov 29, 2019, Business Today
[4] Adani Group signs agreement with AAI for running Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru airports for 50 years – Feb 14, 2020, ToI
[5] Adani group seeks more time to take over 3 airports, cites coronavirus – Jun 4, 2020, Business-Standard
[6] After CBI, ED set to charge GVK Group for Mumbai airport ‘irregularities’ – Jul 3, 2020, Business-Standard
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Airports and Ports consume heavy power round the clock.
Good and Captive customers with a good rate in the Power Purchasing Agreement with Adani Power plants in that area. Sell to themselves !
Deserves more looking into in depth. Maybe by the right investigators ( one’s who have not sold their soul yet)
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That’s good news for people in the Aviation business in India
Very soon the Modi Govt will fully open open up aviation, else no business for pal Adani
Adavid 20 ( resumption of air travel) will replace Covid 19.
Things will be hunky dory again
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