The Union Civil Aviation Minister today hit back at the Kerala Government, which was objecting to the Centre's decision to privatise Thiruvananthapuram airport. The Union Minister said that Kerala bid was 20 per cent below Adani's, which won the bid for three airports including Thiruvananthapuram. The Minister also questioned the state government's stance or opposition to privatisation.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday wrote to the Prime Minister objecting to the Centre’s “unilateral” decision on privatisation of the Thiruvananthapuram airport. The state government has said that its proposal to match the offer made by the highest bidder — the Adani group — for the Thiruvananthapuram airport was not allowed by the Centre, and therefore the people would oppose the move.
In the letter, the CM said it would be difficult for the local administration to cooperate with the Centre following the latter’s move. “I request your good self to intervene at this stage, so that the decision taken now is reconsidered,” wrote Vijayan.
Responding to Kerala Chief Minister, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep S Puri today said, "If the Kerala Government is against privatisation, why did it participate in the bidding process? The state government was given a fair chance and Right of First Refusal (RoFR) if their bid was within 10 per cent below the range of highest bid. However, they bid 19.64 per cent below."
He said the state approached the Kerala High Court, which dismissed the petition in December 2019. Petitioners then filed a SLP in the Supreme Court. Apex Court remitted the matter back to the Kerala High Court.
"There is no stay in the case either by the Supreme Court or the Kerala High Court," said the Minister.
The Union Cabinet has given its go-ahead for awarding the airport to the private party subject to the outcome of Writ Petition & in accordance with provisions of undertaking given by the Concessionaire.
If the petitioners succeed & outcome of litigation leads to annulment/cancellation of bidding process then the Concessionaire will hand over the possession of the airport to AAI. They will be entitled to a refund of the amount paid to AAI & additional investments made in the assets.
The Concessionaire will also not demand any damages from AAI. Here it should be borne in mind that these airports will come back to AAI after the lease period of 50 years.
Further, sovereign functions like Customs, Security, Immigration, Plant & Animal Quarantine, Health Services, Communication & Navigation Surveillance / Air Traffic Management services will continue to be provided by the Government agencies," said the Union Minister.
He noted, Kerala is the pioneer as far as airports under Public Private Partnership are concerned. First PPP airport in India came up in Kochi in Kerala.
It is a successfully run airport with a capacity of 13 Million Passengers Per Annum & was handling 9.62 MPPA in 2019-20 before Covid-19.
Puri stated that another very successful example of PPP mode is Kannur, also in Kerala. In fact, it was during the UDF regime that the foundation for Kochi airport was laid in 1994 and the airport was inaugurated in 1999 during LDF regime.
"Now, the Kerala Government, which is running two successful airports under PPP, is opposing the handing over of Thiruvananthapuram under that mode. It has come to my knowledge that an all-party meeting in Kerala has opposed the PPP model at Thiruvananthapuram," he added.
"Delhi and Mumbai airports, which together handle approx 33 per cent of India's passenger traffic movement, were privatised in 2006-07 under the PPP mode by Congress led UPA Govt. In comparison, the six airports now being handed over handle less than 10 per cent of the country's total passenger traffic," said the Minister.