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‘Many flaws in Mumbai airport PPP’
The PAC has pulled up the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Airports Authority of India over several lacunae in the public-private-partnership at Chhatrapati Sivaji International Airport, Mumbai.
The main grievance of the panel is that the entire contract was drafted to help the private partner, the Mumbai International Airport Private Ltd, of which, GVK is the main shareholder.
On airport development fee (DF) , the panel said the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority is competent to fix it and it expects the regulator to determine the DF in future keeping in view the revenue interest of the Centre in PPP projects and also the interests of passengers.
The panel expressed surprise while noting that instead of looking at debt and equity contributions, the Civil Aviation Ministry allowed MIAL to levy DF at the airport for funding/financing the cost of up-gradation and expansion/development of the airport in contravention of the provisions of the OMDA (operation, management and development agreement).
The committee also said that neither the OMDA nor the lease deed signed between AAI and MILA demarcated and defined the specific details of the leased land. The report said AAI did not have up-to-date land records. It said the MIAL gained 10.23 acres of additional exploitable land. “The revenue from these activities would not be considered for determination of airport charges,” the report added.
The committee noted that on account of cross alignment of the two runways, airport has a design constraint. Ryan Carpenter Authentic Jersey
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