City may beat Hyderabad in international airport race

MOST OF THE AGREEMENTS SIGNED
City may beat Hyderabad in international airport race
Deccan Herald

Only a few nitty-gritties are in the way of the international airport and Bangalore’s international airport at Devanahalli and, despite scepticism, the project is likely to get underway much before the international airport at Hyderabad.

Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) CEO Albert Brunner, when contacted, said all the agreements with government agencies -- the State government, the Airports Authority of India and the Centre -- have been concluded. What remains is internal contracts. “It’s only minor formalities that’s left. It wouldn’t take over a month to start construction,” Mr Brunner said.

Though there are doubts as Hyderabad has got several of its agreements and approvals cleared in record time — way ahead of Bangalore — Hyderabad is yet to conclude its EPC — Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) — contract, which can take a long time.

“It took us several months to freeze the cost and conclude this. This may cause Hyderabad a delay,” said Mr Brunner.

About Rs 80 crore has been spent on the Rs-1,411-crore-project’s development costs over the last few years. The company is all set to recruit about 300 people in the near future for the project. “It would be technical people and others needed for airport management,” Mr Brunner said.