NDA Govt clears Cidco’s revised norms for Navi Mumbai airport bids in record time
The NDA government has apparently cleared revised norms for the Navi Mumbai airport project bids in record time; thus finally giving the go-ahead to the project which has been delayed for more than a decade.
With the revised tender document prepared by Cidco having been cleared by the Civil Aviation Ministry, the process of inviting tenders for the construction of the Navi Mumbai airport has been set into motion.
Revealing that the revised tender document was swiftly cleared by the Government, unidentified officials said that the years-long hindrance in the way of initiating the Navi Mumbai project was trounced by the Government over a weekend.
It was way back in 1998 that the plan to set up the Navi Mumbai airport was first mooted. However, after years of delay – during which the estimated project cost has increased from Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 14,575 crore – the draft of the tender document prepared for inviting bids was submitted by Cidco. In March 2014, Cidco submitted the revised draft to the UPA government. The draft has now been cleared by the NDA government.
With bids now to be invited for the Navi Mumbai airport project, a Cidco official said: “One of the eligibility criteria is that the private bidder (airport operator) will need to have had operated an airport for a period of three consecutive years from 2004 onwards… and the operator should hold a ranking (within 100) in either the SkyTrack or Airports Council International ratings systems.”
Source- The Times of India
