ATHENS: A single offer was submitted in the tender for the construction and operation of a new airport for Iraklio at Kastelli on Crete. The consortium of local construction firm GEK Terna and Indian group GMR was the only one to table a bid for the project, despite expectations there would be more participants.
“We are excited with our participation in the tender,” Sidharath Kapur, president of GMR Airport Ltd, told Kathimerini. “We believe that this particular airport and the Greek market in general have a great prospect in the tourism sector.”
Kapur noted that the company has great experience in managing airports with high passenger traffic, and has also participated in the construction and operation of Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Istanbul, from which it departed two years ago, selling off its 40 percent stake.
The Kastelli airport was expected to be targeted by local construction firm Aktor, which had formed an alliance with French group Vinci, and by the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) in cooperation with airport specialists Archirodon. These groups had requested a new three-month extension up to end-January, citing a series of issues, and said that the Infrastructure Ministry had implied the extension would be granted.
