Bangalore airport: No looking back

Bangalore airport: No looking back
The Times of India

BANGALORE: It is yet another step in the inch-by-inch journey to Bangalore's dream international airport.

On the heels of a flurry of agreements signed by the stated and cleared by the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) board, deputy CM Siddaramaiah has put down this year's funds allocation towards the state support for the project in black and white: The Rs 1,411 crore airport will get Rs 95 crore this year as part of the state share of Rs 350 crore.

"The body language has become very concrete. We are not looking back now,"infrastructure secretary Vinay Kumar told The Times of India. And the government is putting money this time, instead of just words: The Rs 95 crore is to be released in quarterly allocations over the fiscal year 2005-06.

Things are certainly gung-ho on the airport front, with construction of the boundary wall expected to take off within the next 10 days. Both the state government's written permission for such a wall and the BIAL clearance with for the same have come through.

But there is an additional spur for BIAL to begin construction of the project right away: The Rs 70 crore allocation made last year for the project which will lapse if not utilised by March 31.

If the BIAL sticks to its own deadline of March 31 for the project's financial closure, the Rs 70 crore can also be utilised. "The full amount may not be possible, but at least Rs 40 crore can be drawn in addition to the Rs 95 crore allocated for the coming financial year,"officials explained.

Most hurdles for the project have already been cleared with just one -- the CNSATM -- agreement with the Airports Authority of India still showing signs of being thorny. The subject of dispute, a residential layout for AAI officials within the airport boundary, has been cast back into the lap of the BIAL, with the state government recommending accommodation of the AAI request.

Officials are buoyant: "We are now in the last stages and everything will happen this year."