GMR Airports to build a new Airport in Greece and Operate it for 35 years

GMR Airports Ltd (GAL) made a statement on Monday saying that it has made an announcement about its achievement on the “concession commencement date” to design, build and operate a new airport with its location in Crete, Greece. The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had successfully laid the foundation stone for the Airport project. 

GMR along with its partner TERNA will operate this Airport for the next 35 years. The project is completely debt-free and the funding will be done by a government grant.

In February 2019, both GAL and its Greek partner GEK TERNA had signed the concession agreement to build a new international airport at Heraklion, Crete, Greece. As per GAL, “The concession period for the Airport project is a total of 35 years, which will include the phase 1 construction of a duration of 5 years. The consortium has a goal to invest more than 500 million Euros for the construction of the new airport. The project will be well-funded through the government of Greece grant and there wouldn't be any requirement for debt."

Crete is one of the largest and the most visited place in the beautiful country of Greece. The airport at Heraklion is going to be the second-largest airport in Greece but there may be a severe capacity constraint. But, the solution to this is that it will be replaced by the new airport at Kastelli.

Mr. Srinivas Bommidala, the GMR Group chairman (energy and international airports), said in a statement, “GMR is the first Indian airport operator that won a bid to operate an Airport in a European country and it is also the GMR Group’s first project in the EU region. He further added, "It is a matter of pride for our firm to work on this prestigious project in Greece. We make it a priority to deliver a world-class airport with global standards along with our Greek partner GEK Terna. This will bring great pride to Greece. The concession commencement date of the Airport project is an important milestone in the journey of GMR Airports.”

In the past, GMR Infrastructure has also been associated with the airports in both Istanbul and Male. GAL is a subsidiary of GMR Infra. Currently, GAL has a total annual passenger capacity of about 17.2 crore passengers at its airports, some of which are currently in operation and some are being developed currently. These airports include Delhi Airport, Hyderabad Airport, Mactan Cebu International Airport located in the Philippines. There is an upcoming at Goa’s Mopa and now in Crete, Greece.

 A GMR JV consortium has even got the Clark International Airport’s project. This is the second project for the company in the Philippines. The group has also recently got the letter of intent for the construction as well as the operations of the Nagpur Airport on a PPP basis. Also, the construction and operation of a greenfield airport located at Bhogapuram in Andhra Pradesh.

Picture Source: TheHindu

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