Navi Mumbai: The City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) will put up a proposal, on Wednesday, before the Project Monitoring and Implementation Committee (PMIC) to seek an extension on bidding time for request for qualification (RFQ) for the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) project. The current deadline is June 18.
This development comes at a time when, according to reports, Tata Realty and Infrastructure is looking at a possible joint venture with Ferrovial SA of Spain — the biggest shareholder of London's Heathrow Airport — to bid for the NMIA project. Ferrovial SA and Tata Realty and Infrastructure are among the companies that responded to the RFQ floated by Cidco on February 5.
Cidco MD Sanjay Bhatia said, "At the pre-bid meeting held in the first week of April, bidders had sought an extension of the deadline. They required more time and there were some queries. So, we will approach the PMIC. In the meantime, we are also going to give a relief and rehabilitation (R&R) award to one village in about 20 to 25 days."
Eleven bidders participated in the pre-bid meeting on April 2.
Representatives of Tata Realty and Infrastructure and Ferrovial SA were also present at the meeting. This was the first meeting after the RFQ was floated by Cidco on February 5.
Finalization of the RFQ bid is the first step towards developing the airport, as it will involve selecting and appointing a strategic partner to undertake the project.
The PMIC, headed by state chief secretary JK Banthia, was set up by the Centre last year to ensure speedy approvals and expedite the Rs 15,000-crore project.
Cidco is scheduled to hold its board meeting on Tuesday, before it puts up the proposal for extending the present deadline on Wednesday. It is likely that the PMIC might accept Cidco's proposal. Government sources said that the application due date might be extended till end of July.
The project, conceived about two decades ago, has been delayed a lot because of land related hurdles.

The only runway in active existence at the Chennai airport was shut for close to an hour on Friday night, after an Air India plane landed and stalled immediately after the landing sequence was through. Unfortunately, the plane had experienced a hydraulic system failure and had leaked oil along most of the runway, along its landing path — effectively making the runway unusable for the most part of an hour and delaying at least 14 flights that were set to depart and land.
An Airports Authority of India (AAI) spokesperson confirmed that the incident occurred at 8.26 pm and the plane had to be towed away after it stopped.
“The plane had intimated us that there may be a snag and when it landed, the oil leaked on to the runway. Our teams were ready and the clean-up process started immediately. There was so much oil that it took over 45 minutes to clear it. AAI is prepared for all such contingencies,” he said.
The spill was cleared by 9.18 pm and after an inspection, planes were allowed to use it again, shortly after.
During the closure of the runway, a Gulf Air plane had to be diverted to Bangalore.
What will particularly scare people is that the Maharaja’s Airbus A320 plane (AI 546) — flying 166 passengers from Hyderabad — developed a hydraulic failure and stalled immediately after it landed on the runway here. Hydraulic failures are labelled “rare but dangerous enough to cause major accidents” by international pilots and aviation experts. However, as most large jets have three hydraulic systems, planes can still land safely if one fails.
An Air India spokesperson downplayed the technical snag, saying that it was well under control. “When there is an issue like a hydraulic leak, the plane cannot move forward and needs to be towed. Our tractors managed to pull the plane to the bay by 9 pm and the passengers were off-loaded safely,” he said.
AI engineering staff will seek to repair the flight and an inspection report is likely to be sent to the DGCA.