Tuesday, January 17 2006 20:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Contrary to speculation over how modernisation of two metro airports would go forward, the Committee of Secretaries is understood to have cleared only Delhi airport for negotiation with sole short listed bidder GMR, while recommending withholding formalities on Mumbai Airport.

Speculation earlier was that the bidding process could be scrapped and quick re-bids be called.

After deliberating on the recommendations of the experts committee headed by Delhi Metro chief E Sreedharan, the CoS, chaired by Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi, is learnt to have disfavoured any re-bidding for the two airport projects, which is estimated to require an investment of Rs 5,400 crore.

Recommending that negotiations be held with sole qualified bidder GMR and endorsing disqualification of Reliance, the CoS is understood to have recommended to the empowered Group of Ministers (eGoM) that Mumbai Airport could be included in the next round of bids to be invited for Chennai and Kolkata airports.

After the meeting of the CoS, the eGoM had met last week and sought some clarifications from the experts panel committee and is scheduled to meet again on January 24, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel had said and reiterated that the January 31 deadline would be maintained in awarding the contracts.

The CoS is also learnt to have recommended that the suggestion of the Sreedharan panel for adopting the SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) route for Mumbai airport be examined by the Planning Commission in consultation with the Civil Aviation Ministry as a possible alternative for modernisation of airports.

It is learnt that there was a consensus of opinion within the CoS over taking up the Delhi airport modernisation work on priority in view of the urgency required due to the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

It suggested that the Mumbai airport, along with those at Kolkata and Chennai, could be offered for fresh bidding after the bid design was reviewed to add greater objectivity and transparency and promote competition without compromising on the quality of bidders.

Suggesting that the Request for Proposal (RFP) document should be revised to promote competition, the CoS is understood to have suggested to the eGoM that recommendations of the Sreedharan panel in this regard should be considered before finalising the entire selection process for joint venture.

On the experts panel's suggestion regarding the SPV model, the CoS is learnt to have said that the government could move quickly to develop modern airports by hiring the services of best international consultants.

It said that besides the Delhi Metro model, world-class airports at Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul, among others, had followed the SPV route.

Maintaining that top-class airport developers had been missed out from the bidding process, the Sreedharan panel had recommended to the CoS a quick bid among pre-qualified bidders. It had also pointed out that a full-fledged re-bidding would derail the entire process and suggested re-bidding among short listed bidders to make the process legally sustainable and financially beneficial.