New Delhi: Setting in motion the process of modernisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports, an empowered Group of Ministers (GoM) has shortlisted three firms for the appointment of a financial consultant and decided to finalise the name soon.

At its first meeting in New Delhi, the empowered GoM, comprising Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie, Law Minister Arun Jaitley and Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, shortlisted ABN-Amro, Ernst and Young and KPMG from among a total of five firms in the race.

After an hour-long meeting, Rudy said the empowered group also decided to appoint a Global Technical Advisor to assist the Civil Aviation Ministry on the parameters of the design and construction of the two ultra-modern airports, which have been evaluated at about Rs 5,000 crore.

Stating that the process of privatisation of the two airports had been set in motion with this meeting, he said the process would now onwards be monitored on "a week-by-week basis" and the schedule finalised by May 30 2004.

The empowered group also approved the terms of reference for the proposed financial consultant.

PTI