Adani Group wins bid to run LGBI airport

Adani Enterprises has emerged as the highest bidder winning the rights to operate and maintain Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport of Guwahati.
By quoting Rs 160 as per passenger fee for the airport, the group has emerged as the highest bidder ousting state-backed National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) by a margin of Rs 5. Apart from this, four other bidders submitted bids for the airport.
Adani Enterprises was the highest among the five bidders – NIIF, AMP Capital (GIF II Lux Holdco) that placed a bid of Rs 136 per passenger, GMR Airports Limited that placed a bid of Rs 59 and PNC Infratech Ltd that had a Rs 18 per passenger bid.

With this, the Adani Group has emerged as the highest bidder for operating, managing and developing six airports in the country – Jaipur, Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram, Mangalore, Guwahati and Ahmedabad.

Last November, the Union Cabinet had decided to privatise the six airports to increase their efficiency and quality. The airports will be given out on a lease period of 50 years and in order to invite greater participation, prior airport experience was not among the mandatory bidding criteria.

As of now, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Cochin are the only private-run airports in the country.