Govt will build Bangalore airport if Tatas back out, says Ibrahim

Federal Civil Aviation Minister C M Ibrahim on Monday declared that the Airport Authority of India would take up the international airport project at Devanahalli on the outskirts of Bangalore, if the Tata-Singapore consortium backed out of the project.

Talking to newsmen in Bangalore, he said he had, at a recent meeting with leading industrialist Ratan Tata, made it clear that the government favoured taking up of the project on 'Build, Operate and Transfer' basis instead of 'Build, Own, and Operate' basis. The air traffic control and the landing rights would be vested only with the government. He hoped Tata would consider the proposal favourably.

If the consortium backed out of the project, the government would not hesitate to go ahead as he was keen that Bangalore should have an international airport , he asserted.

He said he had convened a tripartite meeting on February 20 to take a final decision. Besides the state government officials and the minister concerned, the meeting would be attended by the officials of the Tata Singapore consortium and the federal civil aviation ministry.

Referring to the Tata-Singapore Airlines proposal for running a domestic service, he said the government would not allow international airlines to take up domestic sector service.

The government favoured foreign investment in the sector, but it should be a non-international airlines offer, he clarified.

Ibrahim said the government was for foreign investment in the area but it should not be at the cost of 55,000 employees of Indian Airlines. Besides providing various concessions, Indian Airlines was also operating on non-economical routes, especially in the northeastern sector.

He said the policy did not mean that the government was against foreign investment. It welcomed even 100 per cent foreign investment in building airports in certain greenfield areas. But it would be only on the BOT basis.

Referring to Air-India's operations, the minister said it had made Rs 100 million profit in January alone. Indian Airlines would emerge as a zero loss operator from March next.

He said Air-India would give up some of the loss making routes and concentrate on the corridors where the traffic was heavy.

He said he had asked the Airport Authority of India to take up the feasibility study for the establishment of an airport in Shimoga in Karnataka.

Meanwhile, in the Karnataka legislative council, in Bangalore, state Industries Minister R V Deshpande on Monday set at rest speculation over the location of the proposed international airport and said it would be established near Devanahalli in Bangalore rural district.

He denied there was any dispute on this issue or any proposal to establish the airport at Bidadi, represented by Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda's son H D Ramaswamy, as speculated in the media.

He said the site Devanahalli was selected following a recommendation from the Ramanathan Committee, which included technical and defence personnel. He added that there could not be any deadlines for such projects.

Deshpande said that the project needed 4,276 acres, including 1,394 acres of forest land. The state government had written to the Centre on the issue and sought its clearance.

He said the Centre had written to the state asking whether it wanted the project to be converted to 'Build, Operate, Own, and Transfer' from Build, Operate, and Own' basis and modification in the global tender. He added that this could not be done without the consultation of the Tata consortium, which had won the bid.

When V R Sudarshan demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation into the whole deal, the minister said he was prepared for it if the house felt so.

Deshpande said that the Tatas were agreeable to using the international airport for domestic purposes. However, they were not interested in air traffic control.

He said the Tata consortium was not reconsidering its decision to build the international airport. A decision on the airport would be taken in consultation with the Centre and the Tata consortium.

UNI