HYDERABAD: GMR Airports Ltd (GAL) Monday said it received a Letter of Award (LoA) from the Government of Andhra Pradesh for the development of a greenfield international airport at Bhogapuram. The project involves design, build, finance, construction, development, upgradation, modernization, operation and maintenance of the airport for 40 years, extendable by additional 20 years through international competitive bidding process, with GMR airports limited having Right of First Refusal of 10 per cent.
The proposed airport’s initial capacity, or in phase-1, will be six million passengers per annum, GMR said in a statement. GAL, a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure Ltd, emerged as the highest bidder for the PPP project in February, 2019. In 2019, the existing civil enclave at Vishakapatnam Naval Airfield handled 2.78 million passengers and 4,400 tonnes cargo. In the last five years, the passenger traffic at the Vizag airport has grown at 21 per cent CAGR while the Airport ranks 5th amongst the custom airports in India in terms of cargo traffic.
The proposed greenfield airport site lies on the border of Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram districts, and is approximately 45 kms from Visakhapatnam through NH-5 and 25 kms from Vizianagaram via NH-43. It’s strategically located on the east coast and benefits from the vast catchment area surrounding the region, according to the airports developer. “Moreover, the beach corridor development is underway in proximity to the proposed International Airport in Bhogapuram, which will provide impetus to retail and hospitality developments in the region,” it added.