HCPL Wins Hubballi Airport’s New Terminal Contract

Harsh Constructions Pvt. Ltd. (HCPL) last Wednesday was declared as the lowest bidder for the civil construction work of a new terminal building at Hubballi Airport (HBX) in Karnataka.

Hubballi or Hubli Airport’s existing terminal was opened in December 2017 by Airports Authority of India (AAI) with a built-up area of 3,600 sq.m.

Post expansion, the airport’s new terminal will be capable of handling 2400 peak-hour passengers (1200 arrivals + 1200 departures) with a total built-up area of 20,000 sq.m. The terminal will be equipped with 4 aerobridges and its apron will be expanded to accommodate 6 narrow-body aircrafts (eg. A320, B737).

India’s Central Government had approved the project in June 2023 with an estimated cost of Rs. 273 crore. AAI then invited tenders for the terminal’s civil construction contract in October 2023 with a Rs. 260.22 crore estimate and 2 year completion deadline.

Technical bids were opened in mid-November 2023 to reveal 8 bidders.

Financial Bid Values

Firm	Bid (Rs. Crore)
Harsh Constructions Pvt. Ltd.	220.13
Girdhari Lal Constructions Pvt. Ltd.	223.36
Comt Constructions Pvt. Ltd.	227.00
Vishal Infrastructure Ltd.	231.20
Vensa Infrastructure Ltd.	234.63
URC Construction Pvt. Ltd.	261.25
M.S. Khurana Engineering Ltd.	267.06
Renaatus Projects Pvt. Ltd.	275.37

AAI’s Brief Scope: Construction of New Domestic Terminal Building and Miscellaneous Works at Hubballi Airport

Here are a few design renderings and proposed layout via AAI’s tender documents:

HCPL’s bid of Rs. 220.13 crore was well below AAI’s estimate of Rs. 260.22 crore, so a contract should be awarded before the year ends.

I’ve never heard of HCPL, but per their website see they’ve built terminal buildings across Maharashtra and Karnataka in places like Nashik, Mangaluru and Belgaum.

With this development, I expect basic ground work for Hubbali Airport’s new terminal to start towards the end of Q1 2024 (March) with full-fledged construction work starting in Q2 2024.

For more updates, check out the Airports section or my Home Page! Sign up for free instant email notifications on new posts over here. Like this post? See how you can get early-access to updates and support the site over here.

– TMRG