NEW DELHI: Hyderabad-based GMR Group is investing Rs 20,000 crore to expand existing airports and developing new aerodromes, said GM Rao, Chairman of the infra major, in the Group’s latest annual report.
GMR’s airport business comprises four operating airports — Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad, Bidar Airport at Karnataka and Mactan Cebu International Airport in the Philippines.
Besides, two assets — Greenfield Airports at Mopa, Goa and Crete International Airport in Greece — are under construction. The group has also signed the concession agreement for a Greenfield Bhogapuram International Airport in Andhra Pradesh in June 2020 and development works are in progress.
At present, Delhi Airport is undergoing expansion of its airside infrastructure and terminal capacity to 100 million passengers annually. The entire Phase 3A expansion is now planned to be completed by June 2023, imformed Rao. Hyderabad Airport is also underway to complete its expansion to a capacity of 35 million passengers annually by September 2022.
To meet the anticipated funding needs of the expansion project and to repay the $ 289 million bond maturing in FY22, Delhi Airport raised $450 million in the form of overseas green bonds. As for Hyderabad, the airport has issued 5-year bonds amounting to $300 million last fiscal.
Separately, after the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court ruling, GMR said it is would develop Nagpur airport into a “world-class facility”. The court had recently set aside an order of Mihan-- a joint venture of Maharashtra Airport Development Company and Airport Authority of India. Mihan, in March 2020, had cancelled the award letter issued to GMR group, but the high court has asked it to execute a concession agreement with the GMR group in six weeks.
The existing facilities at Nagpur airport have been operating close to the maximum capacity, handling a total of about 3 million passengers and 9,500 metric tonnes of cargo during the financial year 2019-20.