GMR Infrastructure Ltd has announced that its subsidiary GMR Airports Limited (GAL) has emerged as the highest bidder for the development, operations and management of a greenfield international airport at Bhogapuram, Andhra Pradesh, located in south-east India, through a public-private partnership (PPP).

Andhra Pradesh Airports Development Corporation Limited (APADCL) initiated the Request for Proposals (RFP) process for the project in November 2018. APADCL shortlisted seven applicants to submit proposals, however only GMR Group, GVK and Dolt Infra submitted financial bids.

The proposed greenfield airport site lies on the border of Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram districts, and is approximately 45km from Visakhapatnam, the largest city and financial capital of the state. In 2018, the existing civil airport at Vishakapatnam Naval Airfield handled 2.33 million passengers and approximately 5,000 tons of cargo. Over the past four years passenger traffic at the airport has grown at 14% CAGR, while the airport ranks fifth amongst custom airports in India in terms of cargo traffic.