NEW DELHI: Over a dozen private players, including Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Energy Ltd (REL), real estate giant DLF and infrastructure majors GMR and L&T, are understood to have bid for modernization of Udaipur airport.According to sources, 16 private groups have bid for the Rs 200 crore modernization of the city-side of Udaipur airport, which is amongst the first of the 24 non-metro airports out of 35 taken up for development by the government.

Other bidders in race for the project include Soma Constructions, L&T and Gammon India, besides Dubai-based ETA, the sources added.When contacted, officials of REL, GMR, L&T and DLF declined to comment on the development.Recently, the government had kicked off modernization of non-metro airports with the identification of 24 out of 35 airports to be undertaken through public-private partnerships.

The move has been aimed at maximizing commercial revenues (non-aeronautical) of these airports with the private players managing facilities such a parking, restaurants and shops.The airports include Guwahati, Visakhapatnam, Raipur, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vadodara, Ranchi, Thiruvananthapuram, Mangalore, Aurangabad, Bhopal, Indore, Khajuraho, Dimapur, Bhubaneshwar, Amritsar, Jaipur, Udaipur, Lucknow, Madurai, Trichy, Agartala, Varanasi and Dehradun.