Anil Ambani’s company has bagged a contract worth Rs 648 crore in Gujarat from the Airport Authority of India to build a new airport at Hirasar, which is in Rajkot district of the state.
According to a company statement, the new airport is being constructed near National Highway-8B connecting Ahmedabad and Rajkot. There were nine bidders including Larsen & Toubro, Dilip Buildcon and Gayatri Projects, but the contract went to Anil Ambani’s Reliance Infrastructure, also known as RInfra.
“Reliance Infrastructure Limited E&C (Engineering & Construction) has received the Letter of Award (LOA) from the Airport Authority of India (AAI) of a contract worth Rs 648 crore for the construction of new greenfield Airport at Hirasar in Rajkot district of Gujarat,” a statement released by Rinfra said.
The company added, “Reliance Infrastructure had scored the highest technical score of 92.2 per cent among nine qualified bidders like Afcons, and L&T. The airport is to be completed within 30 months from the date of issue of LoA.”
Reacting to the company winning the contract, Reliance Infrastructure E&C CEO, Arun Gupta, said, “Our strong credentials in infrastructure projects execution are borne out by the successful execution of large scale transportation and power projects. The Hirasar airport project will further strengthens Reliance Infrastructure Limited’s bona fide to be a leader in infrastructure projects.”
The new airport is being constructed at a location near National Highway (NH-8B)
connecting Ahmedabad and Rajkot nearly 36 km from the existing Rajkot Airport. Over time, the proposed new airport will also meet the spill over needs of Ahmedabad.
Last week, the Centre’s Narendra Modi government had decided to hand over the control of country’s five airports to the Adani Group after it emerged as the top bidder. These airports are Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Lucknow, Mangaluru and Jaipur.
Anil Ambani is believed to be a close friend of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is facing serious allegations of corruption for favouring the former in the Rafale jet deal with France.
