New Delhi, February 5
The government today issued letters of intent to the consortia led by GMR and GVK industries, awarding them the contracts for the two Rs 5,400-crore projects.
Reports here suggested that the representatives of the two consortia were handed over the letters during the day, informing them about the awarding of the contracts in accordance with the decision of the Union Cabinet taken last week.
The letters, dated February 4, were given to the GMR Fraport consortium for Delhi as it matched the top financial bid for the airport, ousting Anil Ambani’s Reliance Airport Developers, which has gone to court over the issue. Reliance has sought quashing of the bidding procedure on the grounds of “untenable” changes in the bid conditions.
The trouble in this regard does not seem to end with Sterlite-Macquire- ADP of Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta group, which was also one of the bidders, protesting the decision and its exclusion from the financial bids. The group is claiming that its offer was higher than that of GVK Industries and that the government stood to lose Rs 2,000 crore in revenue.
The group has apparently written a letter to members of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), including Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who headed the EGoM, wondering why it was not qualified for Mumbai when its bid for Delhi was considered.
The GVK-South African Airports bagged the contract for the Mumbai airport, emerging as the top bidder among the four whose financial bids were opened on January 31. It offered the government a revenue share of 38.7 per cent, followed by GMR at over 33 per cent.
Though the GMR had the option of matching the GVK’s bid for Mumbai, it opted for Delhi where its bid at 43 per cent was behind Reliance’s 45.99 per cent. The GMR was given the option to choose between the two airports on account of being the only bidder to have scored over the stipulated 80 per cent marks for technical qualification.
