The expert panel headed by Mr E Sreedharan has recommended that the consortium comprising Reliance Industries and ASA of Mexico be disqualified from bidding for the Rs.5,400 crore Mumbai and Delhi airport modernisation project.

The Panel has alleged that the RIL-ASA consortium achieved the stipulated 80 per cent score due to leniency shown by the technical evaluators.

The Committee headed by Cabinet secretary, Mr B K Chaturvedi, has reportedly accepted this recommendation and has forwarded the report to the empowered Group of Minister, headed by Defence minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee.

If the recommendation is accepted, the GMR-Fraport consortium would remain the only bidder in the fray. This would also give rise to complications since it has already been decided that the two airports would be developed by distinct bidders.

Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has urged the civil aviation ministry against scrapping the bidding process.

The eGOM is scheduled to meet on 11 January 2006 to evaluate various options.

In another development, the Union government is considering to allow 100 per cent FDI in Indian aviation infrastructure, through the automatic route. This means FDI proposals for airport development would not need a priori clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.

Recursive Link to related stories:

Mumbai-Delhi airport modernisation: Revaluation of bids? (05-Jan-06)

  mumdel2