Dharam promises to greenlight airport in next cabinet meeting

But will the JD(S) play ball?


Green signal for Bangalore Airport
Press Trust of India

The much-delayed Bangalore international airport project would be given final clearance at the state cabinet meeting on December 21 and work on it would begin in the second week of January, Chief Minister N Dharam Singh said on Tuesday.

After a meeting with representatives of the members of the Siemens-led consortium, Singh told reporters in Bangalore that "certain technical issues" had to be discussed and officials had been asked to go into the details and apprise him and deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

At its meeting on December 11, the Karnataka cabinet gave in principle approval" for the Rs 1334 crore (Rs 13.34 billion) project, which as been bogged down by delays bringing the Congress-JD(S) coalition government under attack, particularly from the information technology sector, for not giving required clearances immediately.

Seeking to steer clear of the accusations about delay, Singh said "when you take up a big project, hiccups will be there." He added, "Come what may, we will have an international airport."

The airport project, being built by the consortium comprising Siemens, L& T and Zurich Airport Authority, was originally estimated to cost Rs 1150 crore(Rs 11.50 billion) in 2001 which is now revised to Rs 1334 crore.

Singh said the development cost had increased from Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million) to Rs 63.60 crore (Rs 636 million) and the legal fee from Rs 7 crore (Rs 70 million) to Rs 17 crore (Rs 170 million) for the project, which required 4,000 acres with the land to be given at a concessional rate by the state, besides providing state support of Rs 350 crore (Rs 3.5 billion).