Watch the multiplier effects of the international airport on the country’s infotech capital

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Watch the multiplier effects of the international airport on the country’s infotech capital

Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, The Indian Express

Bangalore's quest for an international airport has ended. The Dharam Singh government has finally cleared the project and work is expected to begin next month. So the new year will bring new hope for a city that deserves the best in terms of infrastructure given the enormous talent, energy and enterprise located there.

The Karnataka government has displayed a heartening ability for course correction and this newspaper both acknowledges and welcomes the changed stance most warmly. Whatever his initial reservations over the project — and there were clearly several, both political and economic — Chief Minister Dharam Singh saw reason and moved in the best interests, not just of Bangalore, but the state of Karnataka. The chief minister now appears to be a changed man. He recently indicated that his government plans to develop and maintain 940 km of roads in the city and there is to be another major infotech facility. As a wise man observed years ago, there are two qualities in the world: efficiency and inefficiency. And two sorts of people, the efficient and the inefficient. The days that have gone by have tested the Karnataka chief minister’s decision-making abilities, the days ahead will test his efficiency as ambitious projects take shape. These are competitive times. At one point, there was only Bangalore representing India’s infotech potential. Today, the scenario has changed dramatically, with every city worth the name throwing its hat, or hoping to throw its hat, into the IT ring. Hyderabad and Chennai are Bangalore’s most serious competitors, but there’s Pune and Mumbai moving into the block and even previously unknown urban conglomerations like Jaipur and Gurgaon now nursing major ambitions. Walking the razor’s edge of competition must have also contributed towards convincing the Karnataka government on this project.

This newspaper can take some quiet satisfaction over the outcome. As a votary of reform and growth, it saw the campaign for this facility as an important one. Sometimes, we fail to judge ourselves by the standards of the world even while we have the potential to achieve them. Infotech doyens believe that Bangalore should have used Shanghai as its benchmark. Shanghai not only acquired a world class airport facility years ago, its urban infrastructure was constantly refurbished and updated. Bangalore, despite its numerous success stories, despite hosting some of biggest infotech players in the world, remained the perpetual Cinderella of the cyber world. That status is about to change. The multiplier effects of an international airport and improved urban infrastructure on the country’s infotech capital will be substantial. That’s a promise.