With the proposed greenfield airport at Zewar near Greater Noida getting in-principle approval of the Cabinet late last year, major differences have cropped up between the civil aviation ministry and the GMR Group, which is modernising the Delhi international airport, over the government’s obligation to the latter.
While both the ministry of civil aviation and the GMR group agree that the agreement they signed must be read in conjunction with the present developments and existing laws, as far as compensation for the impact from the contentious second airport goes, both parties are divided, a civil aviation ministry source said.
The civil aviation ministry has said the airport developer must abide by the agreement signed by both parties, which says that the government is only liable to provide right of first refusal (RoFR) to GMR if the second airport at Greater Noida comes up.
As per the RoFR clause, GMR will get to match the highest bid for developing the new airport if their bid is within 10% of the highest bid. But the GM Rao-promoted group feels that according to existing law, RoFR is only provided if there is a focal change in the passenger traffic coming to the airport or the existing airport cannot handle the traffic demand.