Poor roads delay B’lore airport take-off

Poor roads delay B’lore airport take-off
Nirbhay Kumar NEW DELHI


WHILE Hyderabad is all set to get a new international airport on March 14, Bangalore is scheduled to miss its date with the swanky new international airport that was to open on March 30. Citing safety concerns and poor road connectivity from the city to the airport, civil aviation minister Praful Patel has turned down the proposal to open the airport for commercial operations this month. It is understood that the minister was not convinced by the preparedness of the airport, built by a consortium headed by Siemens.
The airport will open only after the ministry is satisfied with the airport’s preparedness. Therefore, opening of new Baganlore international airport — located at Devanahalli — is likely to be delayed by a month.
“On the ground of safety and lack of connectivity, we have deferred the Siemens-led consortium’s plan to open the Bangalore airport on March 30 for commercial operation. Airports Authority of India (AAI), which reviewed the preparedness of the new greenfield airport is not satisfied with the works of the airport operator,” Mr Patel said at a meeting here. Civil aviation secretary Ashok Chawla and joint secretary in the ministry of civil aviation KN Srivastava were present in the meeting.
“The new Bangalore airport operator has been apprised of the decision,” a ministry official said. Bengaluru International Airport (BIAL), which is building the greenfield airport in the IT city, is a joint venture of Siemens, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Unique Zurich Airport, Karnataka government’s KSIIDC and AAI. While Siemens holds 40% in BIAL, Unique Zurich and L&T hold 17% each in the company. AAI and KSIIDC hold 13% each in the airport company. The new airport is expected to handle 11 million passengers annually.
The government is unhappy with BIAL’s initial proposal to charge steep user development fee (UDF). The company later agreed to a reduced fee of Rs 240-plus taxes for domestic passengers and Rs 520-plus taxes for international passengers for the first two months. The GMR Group-led consortium, which has built the new airport at Samshabad in Hyderabad, has said it will not charge anything from domestic passengers in initial months. The swanky airport is scheduled to be inaugurated by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on March 14.
Last week, Kingfisher and Air Deccan aircraft landed and took off from the new Bangalore airport as part of the trials in the run-up to inauguration of the facility. It is understood that the civil aviation ministry is pushing BIAL to reduce the UDF amount for domestic passengers.