JD(S): Airport will stay grounded

Cleared airport project may be grounded again
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The Bangalore International Airport project, which finally obtained `in-principle consent' from the Cabinet on Saturday, is now facing opposition from an unlikely source: the State Government's JD(S) ministers who seem to be fighting it tooth and nail and are hell-bent on placing umpteen hurdles in its path.

In fact the JD(S) ministers seem to be smelling plots in the project, and so are busy attempting to unearth `scams', `kickbacks' and `paddings', all of which threaten to stall the project indefinitely.

Though Saturday's Cabinet meet was convened mainly to approve the airport project, neither was the subject on the agenda, nor was the Cabinet note taken to the meeting. State Secretariat sources have it that only discussions took place and Chief Minister N.Dharam Singh had a tough time persuading his junior partners to give their consent.

The point of contention seems to be the payment of about Rs 18 crore to a UK-based legal firm. According to sources, even the Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) admits that it was a mistake to hire the firm which had presented the Government with a hefty bill.

It had been assumed that the documentation and legal agreements would be completed within couple of weeks or months. But the concession agreement dragged on for over two years with the firm charging the Government on an hourly basis in pounds sterling. Realising that the legal costs were escalating way beyond expectations and that the matter was going to drag on, the Government ended the firm's services, sources revealed.

But this seems to be an excuse that the JD(S) has come up with only recently. From day one, ever since the Centre gave the green signal, JD(S) ministers have opposed the project. Initially they made a cost comparison between the Kochi Airport, on which Rs 300 crore was spent, and the proposed project which has a projected cost of Rs 1334 crore. Officials were at pains to explain that the proposed project has a capacity of five million passengers per year, while the Kochi airport has a capacity of only one million passengers per year, sources said.

Disturbed by these developments, Chief Minister Dharam Singh has convened a meeting on Tuesday morning to sort out the issue. However, the JD(S) ministers are likely to remain adamant and stick to their stand, sources said, so that once again the project will fail to take off.