IT Czars Pull Strings In Delhi To See Airport Through

Sonia quizzes CM about airport
IT Czars Pull Strings In Delhi To See Project Through
The Times of India

New Delhi: It is a measure of the clout that Bangalore’s IT czars have in the country’s capital. The proposed international airport, which IT bosses like Narayana Murthy believe could boost the country’s IT exports many times more, reportedly came up for a detailed discussion during a meeting between Congress president Sonia Gandhi and chief minister Dharam Singh on Wednesday.

The delay in the project take-off has caused considerable bad blood between the IT industry and the state government. The CM, at the receiving end of the IT bosses’ ire, seems to have taken a few quick steps.
Before meeting the Congress chief, he ensured the SBI guarantee for the state government’s contribution to the project — Rs 350 crore.

Under fire from Delhi’s political bosses, the state seems to have geared up things. On Thursday, at a meeting with ICICI, Singh, sources say, will seek full financial endorsement for the Rs 5,000-crore project.

The IT industry seems to have petitioned Delhi about the need for urgently completing the project. Both the PMO and Congress president’s office have been posted with complaints about the perceived delay.

In their projections for the future growth of the IT sector, Murthy and his fellow IT moguls focused on the need for faster and direct communication with Europe and US, projecting the airport as the centrepiece of the strategy for the coming years.

Accompanied by senior Congress leader A.K. Antony, who looks after the party affairs in Karnataka, the CM met Sonia and gave her the assurance that work on the project would begin next month.

Dharam Singh had, in fact, sought to assuage the apprehension of the IT industry about any shift of emphasis from the sector after his coalition government took over a year ago. “I called Murthy home and talked about all such issues over a cup of tea,’’ the CM said. Phew! Airport plans on track SBI Signs State Guarantee For BIAL,

Financial Closure Soon

Bangalore: Better late than never. The Rs 1,411 crore Bangalore International Airport project at Devanahalli is finally set to take off with the much-awaited bank guarantee for the Rs 350 crore state support being signed by the State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday.

“We have concluded the guarantee with the SBI for state support in favour of Bangalore International Airport Limited. The ICICI bank will have to formally declare the financial closure which is just a matter of a few days,’’ infrastructure secretary Vinay Kumar told The Times of India here.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the share-holders agreement, which had been drawn up in September 2003 and lapsed, was also revalidated. “With signing of the bank guarantee, the state government has cleared everything that was pending from its side, while some minor formalities remain to be done by the Centre, which will also come through,’’ Kumar said.
Infrastructure minister P.G R . Sindhia said Wednesday’s development entailed that there is no responsibility from the state’s side regarding any loose ends to be tied.

Chief minister N. Dharam Singh, who is in New Delhi, told reporters that he had spoken to Kumar and asked him to expedite the financial closure. “By June end, work on the airport will begin,’’ he added.