The Tender Commission overseeing the concession process for the use of Podgorica and Tivat airports held a public opening of bids, with authorized representatives from both bidding companies present, according to a statement from the Government of Montenegro.
The Commission confirmed that two bids were submitted on time in accordance with the public call for proposals. The bidders are Incheon International Airport Corporation and Corporacion America Airports S.A.
Given the submissions, the Commission announced it will submit an evaluation report to the competent ministry within 30 days from the date of the opening for further action.
To recall, the government led by Duško Marković adopted the concession act and agreement for the use of the Tivat and Podgorica airports on July 25, 2019.
At that time, the concession plan included a one-time fee of 100 million euros for the state budget and an investment commitment of 200 million euros over the next 30 years.
The former Ministry of Transport, headed by Osman Nurković, issued a public call for prequalification applications for the airport concession on October 11, 2019.
Seven applications were received during the prequalification phase, with four meeting the necessary criteria and being deemed eligible. These qualified bidders included South Korea’s Incheon International Airport, India’s GMR Airports, Luxembourg-based Corporacion America Airports, and a French-Turkish consortium ADP-TAV.
India’s GMR Airports later withdrew from the process, after French company ADP, which is in a consortium with Turkish company TAV, acquired a 49% stake in GMR. This eliminated GMR from further participation.
Following the completion of the prequalification phase, the next step was to launch the tender and invite the qualified companies to submit their formal bids. In late October 2021, the three remaining qualified bidders presented their plans for Montenegro’s airports to the government of Zdravko Krivokapić. At the time, Minister of Capital Investments Mladen Bojanić stated that despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, investor interest in the airport concession remained strong.
