GMR Group to invest Rs 20,000 cr to expand, develop airports

GMR Group is investing Rs 20,000 crore to expand existing airports and develop new aerodromes, Chairman GM Rao said in the company’s latest annual report.

“Airport Development and Construction: GMR Group has set benchmarks for development of world class airport infrastructure. The company is currently investing approximately Rs 20,000 crore to expand the existing airports and develop new airports,” he mentioned.

The infra major’s airport business comprises four operating airports including Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad, Bidar Airport, Karnataka and Mactan Cebu International Airport in the Philippines.

In addition, GMR Group has commissioned Mopa Greenfield Airports in Goa and Crete International Airport in Greece, which are currently under construction. The company had also signed the concession agreement for a Greenfield Bhogapuram International Airport in Andhra Pradesh in June 2020. Development works including earthworks for the project are in progress.

Currently, GMR’s Delhi Airport is expanding its airside infrastructure and terminal capacity to 100 million passengers annually. The entire Phase 3A expansion is set to be completed by June 2023, Rao mentioned.

Delhi Airport has also raised $450 million in the form of overseas green bonds to meet the funding needs of the expansion project, and to repay the $289 million bond maturing in FY21-22.

Further, as part of its capital expansion works, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) has commissioned four rapid exit taxiways, and has completed rehabilitation works of the main runway in the first quarter of the current fiscal.

"GHIAL is well underway to complete its expansion to a capacity of 35 million passengers annually by September 2022," Rao said. GHIAL raised 5-year bonds amounting to $300 million in the previous fiscal in order to meet the funding requirements of the expansion project.

In February 2020, Goa Airport resumed construction and development works on the site, after the Supreme Court gave its reaffirmation of environmental clearance to the project. The airport is expected to be commissioned by August 2022.

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