By IANS,
Kolkata : ITD Cem, an Italian-Thai infrastructure development company, has emerged as the lowest bidder for modernisation of the international airport here, an official close to the development said here.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) invited financial bids from four shortlisted parties in New Delhi Wednesday for upgrading the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport (NSCBI) at Kolkata.
“The bid would now be evaluated by the committee and then it would move to the AAI board for the final decision,” the AAI official added.
Incidentally, the bidding was scheduled to take place June 23 but was later postponed.
The companies which were shortlisted for the bidding were Hervé Pomerleau Canada-Consolidated Construction Consortium Ltd, ITD-Cementation India Ltd, TAV Tepe Akfen Yatirim ve Isletme AS-Punj Lloyd Ltd, and Larsen and Toubro Ltd.
The NSCBI airport modernisation is expected to cost some $500 million in the first phase. This would take its annual passenger handling capacity from 4.9 million to around 25 million.
The existing capacity of the international terminal of the airport is 882,000 passengers and of the domestic terminal is 4.06 million passengers.
The construction is expected to be completed in 30 months and the process of development is expected to be over by 2011.
The modernisation would include extension of the second runway, construction of rapid exit taxiways, installation of navigation and surveillance systems, and setting up a new integrated terminal building.
Following in the footsteps of the modernisation plans of Mumbai and Delhi airports, the project here was supposed to be completed on a private-public partnership (PPP) basis.
This was greeted with opposition from the Left parties. Though Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel initially refused to give in, he gave his consent later.
NSCBI airport modernisation work is done on a cash contract basis, and is not a PPP project.
Delhi and Mumbai airport upgradation is being done by private companies GMR and GVK, respectively.