Bhogapuram International Airport: Zurich, Munich, Incheon among seven bidders for Andhra project

Seven bidders have submitted offers, competing to build the Rs 4,200-crore greenfield Bhogapuram International Airport project in Andhra Pradesh.
Virender Singh, CEO, Andhra Pradesh Airports Development Corporation (APDCL), told FE the authority has received bids from a joint venture of Zurich Airport and a local bank, Essel Infraprojects in a joint venture with Munich Airport, Reliance Infrastructure in a joint venture with South Korea’s Incheon Airport, GVK, GMR, National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) along with AviAlliance, and Bangalore International Airport (BIAL) in a joint venture with Mauritius-based I Investments. He said the the winning bidder will be announced by the end of the month.

The airport is to be developed in three phases at an approximate cost of Rs 4,200 crore. The winning bidder will develop the airport which will have a capacity to accommodate 6 million passengers annually at the end of the first phase of construction, growing to 12 million at the end of the second phase and finally, to 18 million at the end of the third phase when construction of the airport will be fully completed. The developer is to recover his expenses from revenue sharing and from property development rights in the area which will be allotted to them. The project will be awarded to the bidder offering the highest revenue share. The concession period is for 40 years and can be extended by another 20 years, Singh told FE.

The Bhogapuram airport has been delayed due to various reasons. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) had pipped GMR in 2017 to win the right to develop the airport but this was cancelled by the Andhra Pradesh government in January this year. The state government also expanded the scope of the project from a “mere airport to an integrated airport”, according to an official release issued in January.

AAI had won the bid after it offered a revenue share of 30.2%, compared to GMR’s 21.6%. As per the new tender, the winning bidder will now have to develop the airport as a hub for aircraft MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) activities as well as operate an aviation training institute. The airport is to be built about 40 km from Visakhapatnam.

Source: Financial Express

Sarajevo Airport begins terminal expansion

Sarajevo Airport has commenced the multi million euro expansion of its terminal building. Local company ANS Drive has been contracted to carry out the work valued at 15.3 million euros. The project includes the addition of 10.000 square metres of space to the existing terminal building, as well as the construction of an office/business facility at the airport, worth three million euros. The two projects are being financed from the airport’s own funds. «The expansion of the passenger terminal and the construction of a business facility are important strategic projects for Sarajevo Airport, which will provide capacity for further growth», General Manager, Armin Kajmaković, said. Upon completion, the terminal building will have the capacity to handle two million passengers. Currently, Sarajevo can welcome one million travellers per year, with the airport set to surpass that figure over the next two months. The project’s completion is scheduled for late 2019. Previously, the old terminal A building was demolished in order to make way for the expanded facility.

Source: Exyuaviation

Govt needs investors to build new Zambo airport

The construction of a new world-class airport in the city will depend upon the buy-in of large scale investors, an official from the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) says.
«The funding (for the airport) will be the fruit of a public-private partnership,» said Raymond Peter Esperat, MinDA’s Development Management Officer. «But we still have to look for investors.»
The initial estimated project cost is around Php9.87-Billion, a report from the City Government reveals.
This new airport to be sited 17 kilometers away from the city proper in barangay Mercedes-Talabaan is eyed to be world-class with state of the art facilities. International flights starting with Malaysia and Indonesia are to be expected with more passengers and cargo movements.
Local government officials believe that this new airport,when completed, will usher in more development opportunities, bring in more tourists and ease the traffic situation in the city proper.
Asked on a possible timeline for the completion of this project, Mr. Esperat said, «it’s too early to say.» Currently, a team of engineers from a private firm has been contracted to undertake a feasibility study of the project site.
Earlier this year, former Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the airport is expected to be completed within 4-5 years.
In addition to the airport, proposed projects that are seen to benefit the city include the construction of the Zamboanga Ecozone Port and the TransMindanao High Speed Railway System Project. But Esperat says the timeline is still «too early to tell,» and adds that these projects, including the new Zamboanga airport are priorities of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Source: Malayia Sun

Indonesia Pins Hopes on Private Sector for Airport Development

In an urgent bid to address overcapacity and modernize existing infrastructure, the Indonesian government has turned to the private sector to fund a series of airport projects across the sprawling archipelago. In recent days, the government has revived talks of a new $10 billion international airport to serve as an alternative to Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport, which has operated beyond design capacity for more than 10 years. Authorities have earmarked reclaimed land some nine miles north of Soekarno-Hatta for the project, plans for which call for financing from a private-public partnership scheme between investors and state-owned PT Angkasa Pura II.

Separately, the airport operator has earmarked three facilities in North Sumatra to receive a combined $796 million in upgrades, including Sibolga Airport, Silangit Airport, and Kualanamu Airport. PT Angkasa Pura II has started accepting letters of intent to expand airside and landside facilities at Kualanamu, including the terminal, apron, runway, and hangar.

On the island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara province, Komodo Airport will start accepting tenders later this month for the operation and expansion of facilities. The $200 million airport project, which falls under the purview of the Ministry of Transportation, would increase the airport’s current capacity from one million to four million passengers per year by 2044.

Meanwhile, at least five airports and four proposed airports have made the government’s list of strategic projects as part of President Joko Widodo’s ambitious infrastructure initiative to bolster economic activity and increase air connectivity between the country’s some 17,000 islands.

Yet, despite ongoing talks to address infrastructure bottlenecks and upgrade navigational equipment and facilities, very few investors have come forward to bring the projects to fruition. Notable exceptions include the Salim group, which signed a memorandum of understanding with PT Angkasa Pura II in 2017 to build a new $150 million airport at Bintan Island in the Riau Archipelago, and Indian conglomerate GVK, which manages the landside facilities at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport

Rather, the majority of infrastructure projects have received their financing through loans and public money, which is creating an enormous burden on Indonesia’s state-owned airport operators.

Indonesia’s infrastructure faces further strain from the constant threat of natural disasters such as flash flooding, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes, which frequently disrupts airport operations across the nation. In late September, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake caused extensive damage to Mutiara Sis Al Jufri airport in Palu, Central Sulawesi. The airport has since resumed limited commercial operations while it undergoes repairs and facility upgrades.

Source: AIN on line