Aldeasa/ITDC still stalled

By Administrator |

Several months after they were due to open for business, the ‘joint venture’ between Aldeasa and the India Tourism Development Corp (ITDC) has still failed to open any shops at Mumbai (Bombay) Airport.


While neither party is saying much about the nature of the problems, it is understood that equity shares between the two parties, the sustainability of the bid itself and infrastructure problems at Mumbai Airport are key issues – as they were back in June when TREND last reported on the delay.

The two ‘partners’ bid around $100m for the three-year contract which they won in February of this year, but according to local press reports, both parties are now holding talks with Mumbai International Airport Ltd to try and sort out identified infrastructure issues that have also been raised.

Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) expressed its frustration at the delay in opening as far back as June and indicated clearly in the local press that it had been told that the situation would be rectified within a week. Four months later it is still waiting. At that time MIAL indicated that it was unable to formally sign any agreement with the joint venture since it technically did not exist, which, if true, begs the question as to whether the ITDC/Aldeasa bid should have been accepted at all ahead of other partnerships. The fact that Aldeasa/ITDC were awarded the contract ahead of the March 7 closing date also puzzled other bidders at the time.

Neither was this delay in opening down to bureaucracy, since the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) had already given the green light to Aldeasa to form the joint venture which was eventually chosen ahead of competing joint venture offers from Alpha Airports-Future Group, Dufry-Interglobe and Nuance-Shoppers? Stop.

Four months ago MIAL threatened to ‘think further’ if Aldeasa and ITDC did not get their act together and it must be a distinct possibility that it could retender the business if it sees no evidence of any action from the partnership.

Interestingly – and perhaps tellingly – Parvez Dewan the Chairman of ITDC indicated his concern at the bid levels for the duty free contracts at both Mumbai and Delhi last May. Speaking at TFWA's Singapore Asia Pacific conference, Dewan said he 'hoped' both joint ventures had got it right considering that Alpha was paying 13 times what ITDC had previously been paying at Delhi and that ITDC/Aldeasa JV was paying eight times more than ITDC had previously paid at Mumbai (or is not, as the latter case is).

If it ever opens under this partnership the new operation will be located in Mumbai's International Terminal 2C, comprising total duty free space of 24,541sq ft, with 14,585sq ft earmarked for the departure level, 8,395sq ft for the arrival level and 1,560sq ft reserved for storage.

MIAL is a 74:26 per cent joint venture company between GVK-SA consortium and the Airports Authority of India. The consortium comprises GVK, Airports Company South Africa Limited and Bidvest Group Limited.

Asia & Pacific

Asia Pacific Travel Retail Awards: The Winners

TRBusiness and m1nd-set can today (13 March) reveal the winners of the 2024 Travel Retail...

The Americas

Details emerge of JFK T1 commercial programme and duty free tender

Qualified travel retail operators are being invited to participate in a request for proposals...

International

JCDecaux research offers major passenger insights

New research insights from Ipsos UK compiled for JCDecaux provide a revised outlook of air...

image description

In the Magazine

TRBusiness Magazine is free to access. Read the latest issue now.

E-mail this link to a friend