The Adani Group of Industries will soon take over 3 airports. These are the Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru airports.
On the 3rd of July, the Government of India (GoI) released a statement which read, “The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the leasing out of (these) three airports of Airports Authority of India through PPP to the highest bidder — Adani Enterprises — for operation, management and development for a lease period of 50 years.”
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government took the decision and said, the airports will be run by the Adani Enterprises in the form of a Public Private Partnership (PPP.)
Apart from the Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru airports, the Adani Group also bid for the Jaipur, Trivandrum and Guwahati airports. However, the process is completed for only 3 airports so far.
Prakash Javadekar, the Minister of Environment, said, “Process is complete (for these three places). Wait for next (meaning the Cabinet will consider them when their process is complete.)”
The statement released by the Modi Government read, “These projects will bring efficiency in delivery, expertise, enterprise and professionalism, apart from harnessing needed investments in the public sector. This will also result in enhanced revenues to the AAI, which may lead to further investment by AAI in Tier-II and Tier-III cities, and economic development in these areas in terms of job creation and related infrastructure.”
As per the terms of the PPP, from now on, Adani Enterprises will supervise all the operations and management of the airports. The assets, designing, engineering, financing, construction and development of the additional air side, terminal, city side and landside infrastructure for the airports will also be managed by the Adani Enterprises.
The lease of airports was run by the Airport Authority of India (AAI.) The employees working at the airports run by the AAI will have the option to either work with Adani Enterprises or to stay with the AAI at other airports.
By the end of July, Adani Enterprises is expected to take over the remaining three airports in Trivandrum, Jaipur and Guwahati.
Stay tuned for further updates.