Adani Group has given clarification on the articles which stated that the Finance Ministry and NitiAayog had raised red flags before Adani’s clean sweep of six airports over the 2019 PPP bidding process is factually incorrect as the bidding process was conducted in a competitive and transparent manner. It was conducted through e-tendering portal of the Government of India in which 25 firms across the globe had registered and total 86 registrations were received in the portal for 6 airports. As the bid process was completed transparently, none of the participating entity raised any concern or objection to the bidding process.
After opening of the financial bid of technical qualified bidders, it was revealed that the quote of Adani Enterprises Limited was highest in all the six airports. As the tender process of each airport was undertaken on individual basis but at the same time the bidder whose quote is highest was considered as per the provisions of the bid document.
An Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGOS) Chaired by CEO NitiAayog with Secretaries of Ministry of Finance and Civil Aviation as Members was given the powers by the Union Cabinet to decide on the matters outside the purview of Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC).
Acquisition of stake in the Mumbai airport by Adani Enterprises Ltd. and at the same time seeking extension from AAI for taking over the three Airports i.e. Ahmadabad, Lucknow and Mangalore, it is stated that both the transactions are independent of each other.
Further, the article reported that the concession agreements for Guwahati, Jaipur and Thiruvananthapuram airports were signed by AAI in September whereas, it has actually been signed on 19.01.2021.
It is important to note that the allegation brought out in the articles were also the allegations submitted by various petitioners in the High Court of Kerala opposing PPP mode of operation of AAI airport which were heard and decided on merits and finally the Court vide its judgement dated 19.10.2020 dismissed all the Petitions upholding the PPP process undertaken by Government of India.
