VASCO: Reacting to the opposition to the car rental maxi cab counter at Dabolim airport by yellow black taxi operators, airport director Bhupesh Chand Hans Negi on Sunday clarified that Airport Authority of India (AAI) is a statutory body which is empowered to provide car rental maxi cab facilities at AAI-managed airports in the country.
“Certain people are raising doubts over the car rental/maxi cab services contract awarded to Taj India Tours. The AAI is a statutory body formed under the Act of Parliament. As per AAI Act 1994, AAI is empowered to have such facilities at AAI-managed airports in the country,” Negi said. He said as per technical eligibility criteria, the bidder should have minimum 30 vehicles in their name and 3 years of operating experience anywhere in country to participate in the tender.
“Taj India Tours emerged as H1 bidder and was awarded the contract in November 2017. The agency was supposed to start the service in October after completing all formalities as per tender which included any mandatory regulatory approvals required from state/central government authorities, but due to delay in getting required approvals, the agency approached High Court of Bombay at Goa wherein the High Court issued direction to the government to issue necessary approvals,” Negi said, adding, “The agency was recently granted licence by the state RTA based on directions of the court.” On passenger traffic growth, Negi said that “this year’s growth has been just around 7 per cent overall as compared to the last financial year when it was approximately 25 per cent. This is a big cause of concern for all of us. AAI is trying its best to bring more airlines to start operations at Goa airport.”
“AAI management is spending almost Rs 16 crore on carrying out modifications in the existing terminal building to address shortcomings. This is in addition to Rs 186 crore being spent on the ongoing parallel taxiway work. AAI management has also decided to construct three additional aircraft parking bays and complete this task by October.
“The critical part of parallel taxiway will be completed and put into operation by June 2018. This will significantly improve aircraft handling capacity and reduce flight delays on ground and in the air,” Negi stated. Negi said that AAI has already floated tenders for appointment of project management consultant for extension of existing terminal building to add another 2 million annual passenger handling capacity at a cost of Rs 250 crore. The three additional parking bays will be constructed at a cost of Rs 12 crore. These works will be done along with ongoing demolition of old terminal building.”
“We are hoping to put in-line X-ray baggage system for Goa into operation by the end of this year. This will do away with the registered baggage scanning by standalone X-ray machines. We have already installed five self check in kiosks and 10 more are likely to be delivered within one month. Within few months, 100 more CISF personal will be deployed at the airport to further reduce waiting time in queues at entry gates and during security check,” Negi said.