Better Bengaluru airport years away

Those looking for a more efficient Bengaluru airport may have to wait a few more years for the next phase of expansion to be complete.

The Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (Bial) is a consortium of Siemens, GVK Group, Unique Zurich Airport, Karnataka State Industrial Investment & Development Corporation and Airports Authority of India. Phase-II of the airport was to be commissioned in early 2009, but was postponed as the global aviation business nose-dived.

Phase-II, the construction of which is expected to begin by the second half of 2010, includes a second terminal and a second runway. Its cost was estimated at Rs 3,500 crore (Rs 35 billion) last year, around Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) more than that of Phase-I. According to industry analysts, once work begins, the second phase will take three years to conclude.

While Bial maintains it will review the report of the Karnataka Assembly's House Panel and implement its recommendations to the extent possible, Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel is more candid: "I accept that the design is a bit faulty. It was worse earlier. So, I got the design modified in 2004 and incorporated Phase-I in the airport construction when I joined as minister. Even after those changes, it is not as good as Hyderabad and other international airports."

He said the airport would be on a par with other airports after Phase-II of the work at the airport was completed.

A Bial spokesperson said the company had "always been forthcoming and transparent in its interactions and information sharing with the committee."

Others entities, which were slammed by the House Panel, refused to comment. The panel had recommended black-listing of infrastructure majors L&T, Siemens and Unique Zurich Airport for a minimum of five years for the "poor quality of workmanship" at Bial. Officials at all three were not available for comments.

The committee has also recommended "appropriate action" against those involved in the decision-making process, including Infosys Chief Mentor N R Narayana Murthy. The report cites "poor quality" of workmanship, trading shares for profit without showing an "iota of concern" for the general public and entrusting all airport works to private players by Bial, the company that runs the airport.

Infosys Chief Mentor Narayana Murthy, who was Bial chairman till 2005, chose not to comment on the House Panel's views.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, chairman and CEO, BPL Innovations Business Group who has also been criticised since he was a Bial director, pointed out that he had resigned from the job before the present consortium of Zurich Airport, Siemens and L&T was awarded the concession and license for the project.

Chandrasekhar said he was a big critic of the way the project had been given to the consortium, the monopoly given to it by closing the Hal airport and the manner in which the consortium partners were allowed to award contracts to themselves.

"There was no cap on costs and I have argued that if the government was going to allow the airport to charge User Development Fees (UDF), it had to look into the costs. I have repeatedly asked that the project cost and the capital expenditure of this project be disclosed in public interest, which has not happened," he said.