The attempts of Airport Authority of India (AAI) to give selected areas of Jaipur international airport to a strategic partner for operation and maintenance (O&M) has hit turbulence once again.
The Authority, has once again changed the date of opening of technical bid and now, the date has been fixed as November 22. The earlier date was October 20 and with this, it is the 8th time that the date has been changed.
The starting date for opening of this technical bid was March 8 this year. After that, the date has been changed eight times, including the latest date now.
Notably, the airport authority wishes to give passenger terminal, car parking, apron and associated utilities of the airport on operation and maintenance to private company in coming days.
The strategic partner will be chosen through a bidding process and once selected, AAI will enter into an O&M contract with the selected bidder.
However, AAI will remain the airport operator for these airports and will continue to perform its functions, informed officials in ministry of civil aviation.
The current process for this objective was started in 2016, when Request for Proposals ( RFP) were invited in December 2016. Since that time itself, the process has been slow due to various reasons. Notably, previously in 2015, the operations department of the Airport Authority of India had invited bids from private operators. Few of the companies too had met the officials at Jaipur airport in this regard.
Not only Jaipur, but the proposal is being worked out for Ahmedabad airport too.
Changed for 8th time
The Authority, has once again changed the date of opening of technical bid and now, the date has been fixed as November 22. The earlier date was October 20. With this, it is the 8th time that the date has been changed.
