32 bids acquired from 10 entities: Aviation Ministry

The Ministry of Civil Aviation mentioned Thursday that the 2019 privatisation of six airports — Ahmedabad, Mangalore, Lucknow, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram — was carried out in a “competitive and transparent” method, with 32 bids having been acquired from 10 completely different entities through the bidding course of.
Responding to The Indian Express report titled “Finance Ministry and Niti Aayog had raised red flags before Adani’s clean sweep of six airports”, revealed on January 15, the Ministry mentioned that the assertion made within the article was “factually incorrect”. On the objections raised by each Ministry of Finance and Niti Aayog concerning the bidding course of, the Ministry mentioned that an Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGOS) “took a conscious decision not to put any restrictions on the number of airports to be bid or to be awarded to a single entity” provided that the six airports dealt with solely 9.5% of the passenger visitors. On the problem of ignoring the suggestions of Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) and Niti Aayog, the assertion from the Ministry famous that each these businesses have been represented within the EGOS, the place the problems have been deliberated. The concession settlement for Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram airports, the Ministry mentioned, was signed on January 19, 2021 and never September 2020, when the Letter of Award for these three airports had been issued by the Airports Authority of India.
The Indian Express replies:
As said within the information report, the objections raised by the DEA and Niti Aayog have been recorded within the minutes of the assembly of the Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) dated December 11, 2018 and it’s these interventions have been reproduced within the January 15 information report. The report duly acknowledged the choice taken by the EGOS pertaining to the particular level flagged by the DEA about proscribing the variety of airports to be awarded to the identical bidder, and people raised by the Niti Aayog about stipulating prior expertise as one of many bidding necessities. The information report additionally famous the PPPAC’s response on Niti Aayog’s objection that the EGOS had already selected not having prior airport expertise as a prerequisite for bidding.