Jewar airport developer to be finalised by November

New Delhi: Global investors have time till the end of October to bid for the contract to build a new airport at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh that will be the second airport in the national capital region after the New Delhi international airport.

The Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL), which on Thursday called for e-bids from global investors for the project, said technical bids will be opened on 6 November and financial bids will be opened on 29 November. Investors have time till 1 July to seek any clarification needed on the project, NIAL said in a twitter post. Investors' queries will be answered by the end of August.

To be built at an estimated cost of «¤??15,700 crore, the airport is expected to bring competition in the air travel market in the region and help boost the state economy.

As per the government's new formula for auctioning new airport projects, the investor offering the highest revenue share per passenger to the implementing agency will get the contract to the build the airport. Construction work is expected to start early 2020 and the first phase is expected to be completed by 2023.

The project is of interest to both the state political leadership as well as to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who during a visit to the region in March said it will create job opportunities for the youth. Jewar airport will bring a golden opportunity of development in western Uttar Pradesh, according to a Hindustan Times report on 10 March.

India is trying to make air travel accessible to more and more of its people by building new air ports and offering tax breaks for regional air services. In the last few years, the air travel market has seen double digit growth but intense competition among airlines and aggressive pricing have raised doubts about the survival of carriers prone to currency and fuel price shocks.

With cash strapped Jet Airways (India) Ltd. suspending operations in April till a turnaround scheme is finalised, the growth in air travel market has lost steam. Domestic carriers transported 1.1 million passengers in April, 4.5% less than the 1.15 million people they carried in the same month a year ago, according to data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. The contraction in air passenger market contrasts sharply with the 18.6% growth in passengers reported in the 2018 calendar from the year ago period.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.