Chennai: Chennai airport’s privatisation process was expected to get over by June 2014, but it has now missed the schedule with a lot of procedural delays from the government side.
As per schedule, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) was supposed to award the bid to a company by this month, but the project has got delayed by four months. The AAI had lagged behind in the queries-response stage that was to happen in October last year.
On Monday, AAI extended the application due date for submitting RFQ to operate, manage and develop Chennai airport at an indicative cost of Rs 1,200 crore to February 17. “The last date for filing of application was January 28, but due to some issues, we have postponed it to February 17,” said Anuj Aggarwal, who heads the key infrastructure development cell of AAI, which is instrumental in executing the PPP process in identified airports.
The AAI would utilise the period to finalise the concession agreement that will contain the actual scope and cost of the project. The project includes construction of new domestic terminal, a parallel taxi track and re-carpeting of the main runway, modification of old international terminal building, connectivity of metro rail, construction of common user cargo terminal and construction of multi-level car park.
The delay in executing the PPP process has added muscle to Chennai airport employees union’s fight against privatisation. The union had resorted to wearing black badges, relay hunger strike, lunch hour demonstration and candlelight marches to register their protest. Now, the joint forum of unions and associations of AAI have planned to conduct a strike ballot across the country on February 10 to take further action.
However, air passengers, who endured the construction activities at the city airport for the last five years, were upset about the maintenance of the new premises. “I am disgusted to go into either of the two (Chennai and Kolkata) AAI-maintained airports,” said a frequent air traveller and Mumbai-based industrialist Milan R. Zatakia. He added that the privatisation process has to be hastened for the benefit of the passengers.
