Tata, GMR giving Navi Mumbai Int'l Airport a miss?

Tata Realty & Infrastrucure and GMR Group, two of the four short-listed bidders for the for the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) project, are likely to stay away from the bidding process. A flagship airport development by the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (Cidco), the deadline for its bidding is to end on January 9, 2017.

Citing execution related challenges, a GMR Group spokesperson said that the company was not bidding for the airport project. Tata Realty-Vinci Airports consortium could not be reached for a comment.

While there were concerns on clearances for the airport project, Mohan Ninave, senior public relations officer, Cidco, told DNA Money that, "All clearances have been received and Cidco is going ahead with the bidding process."

As a result, the Rs 16,000-crore project could only see two bids i.e. from the Hiranandani Developers-Zurich Airport consortium and GVK-led Mumbai International Airport (MIAL). Volputas Developers (Hiranandani-Zurich consortium) could not enter the fray earlier as the company was ineligible to bid for the greenfield airport project in the absence of security clearance from the Union home ministry. It subsequently sought clearance and became eligible to submit the bids three months ago.

Interestingly, MIAL enjoys the first right of refusal for this project and could make it very challenging for the Hiranandani-Zurich consortium to snatch the airport project away from them.