Nagpur: After the high court benefits it, GMR plans to continue taking over the Nagpur airport and carry out expansion according to the plan for the first phase.
The court has canceled the command (miles) of Maharashtra Airports Limited, which set aside GMR contract allotment after winning an agreement to privatize the Nagpur airport through a tender process.
The press release by GMR said that during 2019-20, the Nagpur Airport ran close to the full capacity handling of around 30 passengers lakh and 9,500 metric tons of cargo during the financial year.
In the first phase to be spread over four years, GMR plans to build a new terminal building.
It will have facilities to handle 40 passenger lakhes in a year.
Other facilities will be a new taxiway, aprons, car parking, road approaches and cargo terminals.
The existing building will also be updated.
GMR has installed the initial cargo capacity at 20,000 MT a year.
It plans to develop a cargo hub based on models in the center of large air cargo in Memphis, Paris, Hong Kong and Dubai, the release said.
Long-term plans include the second runway and building capacity to handle 30 million passengers every year.
However, the sources at Mil said opposed to the GMR statement of the Nagpur Airport which handed over 30 passenger passengers in 2019-20, the actual number below 60% of what was mentioned in the company’s liberation.
During the peak period, there were 4,400 arrivals and departures each in a day.
It has dropped to 1,900 to 2,200 because of Covid-19.
Milis recently began composing cargo numbers.
At present, 2.2 to 2.8 tons of cargo is being handled.
The account is being completed but there is a possible loss during fiscal, said the source.
GMR has won a tender for the privatization of Nagpur Airport in 2018.
However, miles, state government institutions and airport operators at present, have canceled the allotment of GMR and canceled the offer.
Bids must be made on the basis of the percentage of income to be distributed with miles by private players.
Previously, GMR had offered 5.76% of shares on income which then increased to 14.49%.
Mil, however, canceled allotment even after that.
The reason is that the mile has received higher income by running the airport itself, as offered by GMR.
Even the Ministry of Airline Union in 2019 has questioned the need for privatization if the income is very low.