"Chandrababu’s Return Gift to GMR!"
"Wealth creation" – a phrase frequently uttered by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. While it’s unclear how much wealth he has generated for the people of the state in the past year, officials say that his tenure has certainly created substantial wealth for certain corporate groups and big contractors. They allege that he laid out royal pathways for them. In the same vein, on Tuesday, the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, took a crucial decision. It decided to reallocate 500 acres of land to the GMR Group for the Bhogapuram International Airport project—land that was previously cut during the tenure of former CM Jagan Mohan Reddy. During Jagan’s administration, the total land allocation for the project was reduced from 2,700 acres to 2,200 acres. Now, citing the company’s request, the Cabinet has approved the reallocation of the 500 acres.
It’s well known that the awarding of the Bhogapuram Airport project to GMR was mired in controversy. During Chandrababu Naidu's first term as Chief Minister, tenders were invited through a competitive bidding process for the airport project, and the government-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) won the contract. AAI also offered to provide a higher share of revenue to the government. Despite this, the Naidu government cancelled AAI’s tender through a Cabinet decision. The justification given was that a fresh tender would be called with added features like MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) facilities. However, it was widely believed that these additional features were merely excuses to cancel AAI’s winning bid. Things took a stranger turn when the new tenders were issued with a condition that disqualified government agencies from participating—reportedly to benefit GMR. This caused a significant uproar at the time. National media even reported that AAI had written a letter objecting to the cancellation.
Eventually, in the re-issued tender process, GMR won the project as Chandrababu had seemingly desired. Compared to AAI’s proposal, GMR offered the government a much smaller share of the User Development Fee (UDF) collected from passengers and, even then, only after a few years. The Finance Department raised objections to these terms, but the Naidu government proceeded nonetheless. While in opposition, YSR Congress Party and Jagan Reddy had alleged this was a major scam. But after coming to power, the Jagan-led government retained GMR as the project developer while reducing the land allotment by 500 acres. Now, the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet under Naidu has reversed that reduction and reallocated the 500 acres back to GMR.
Officials also claim that estimates for the airport construction costs were artificially inflated during the previous Naidu regime. Public interest would have been better served by awarding the tender to a government entity like AAI, as it would place less financial burden on travelers. However, by cancelling AAI's bid and paving the way for GMR, Chandrababu played a key role in boosting the wealth of a private company, an official said. Critics now argue that by reassigning the land canceled by Jagan back to GMR, Chandrababu is acting as if he is at the service of the company.
