It is almost certain. Two of the biggest airports, at Kolkata and Chennai, have been dropped off Government's privatisation map. CNBC-TV18's Sindhu Bhattacharya reports quoting sources that the much delayed consent of the Government on developing and modernising some airports under the Public Private Partneship (PPP) model may come next week but instead of the earlier six airports, the list may be pruned to four.
"Kolkata and Chennai airports have already seen huge investments by the Airports Authority of India but continue to be poorly managed. In all likelihood, these two airports will not be on the PPP map," the source said.
State-owned AAI is the biggest owner and operator of airports in India. The four airports expected to get a nod for PPP route to modernisation are those at Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati and Ahmedabad.
The PPP model being considered now is different from previous models (such as those adopted for Delhi and Mumbai airports) because neither the state and nor the state-owned AAI are to hold any equity stake this time. The airports will be handed over entirely to private parties. In India, all greenfield airports have traditionally been developed by the AAI. The six identifed airports were to become the first such airports where private parties would have been able to acquire 100% equity on a 30-year lease basis, with no AAI participation.
But with Kolkata and Chennai possibly out of the PPP kitty, other problems may arise. Large airport developers like GVK, GMR and others have been keen on participating in the privatisation process till now but will they come forward if two largest airports are not on the table?
An official at a large airport developer had said earlier traffic potential will have to be assessed at the remaining four airports but first, the Government needs to get the model concession agreement and the regulatory framework for revenue sharing model right. A consultant closely associated with the airport privatisation process has said earlier that if Chennai and Kolkata are excluded, the entire privatisation process could be a washout since private sector interest in smaller airports would be minimal.
Some officials in the Government see things differently though. According to them, Ahmedabad and Jaipur should hold enough interest for private bidders since the first is a business hub and the second a tourist hub. There were some reports earlier of Prime Minister Modi exhorting a major port developer from Gujarat to come forward and take the contract at least for Ahmedabad airport, which is expected to have good traffic potential.
Why is the Government hesitant on going the whole hog with a PPP model? A senior official in the ministry of civil aviation had earlier pointed out that the experience with privatisation till now has not been all pleasant. Five of India's largest airports are being run by consortia of private players with AAI working alongside as per a revenue sharing formula. These are Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin.
At one of these five airports, the cost of turnaround of a wide body aircraft is USD 6000. This is how much it costs an airline for landing the aircraft, paying for its parking, unloading etc. At the world famous Singapore airport, the same services would cost an airline just USD 2300. Officials in the Ministry of Civil Aviation have been questioning private developers charging airlines and flyers exorbitantly. A senior ministry official has said earlier that such exorbitant charges of private airports in India are bothering airlines and this will be a big consideration in awarding future airport contracts to private developers. The official had also said that the Planning Commission has circulated a new model concession agreement (MCA) with changes. Airport privatisation has been stuck for many months - the process was first initiated during the UPA2 tenure.
At that time, the Planning Commission was pushing for a tariff model which prospective bidders found unviable. The Planning Commission wanted a cap on user fee: basically a model followed by the roads sector where the user fee or toll is pre-determined though allowed an annual small increase. But private airport developers wanted user fee to be determined by costs of the project and did not want any fixed amount. This meant the PPP process and subsequently model concession agreements were interminably delayed.
Sources tell us it is now possible that the second formula, where user fee varies according to project cost and investments sunk into it, will be offered in revised MCAs.
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