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PM digitally launches Bangalore international airport project

Fakir Chand in Bangalore

Befitting the sobriquet of Bangalore being the IT capital of India, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Friday performed the virtual bhoomipujan of the upcoming international airport project, using a digital device to display the ground-breaking ceremony, conducted by priests at the site in Devanahalli.

Infosys chief executive officer and the project's non-executive chairman N R Narayana Murthy asked the prime minister to click a remote button in the banquet hall of the imposing Vidhan Soudha for a live demonstration of the foundation-stone laying ceremony for the Rs 12-billion airport.

According to the airport project task force, this is for the first time such a virtual function was conducted by the prime minister, though it was held behind schedule by over 2 hours, reminding the impatient gathering of the inordinate delays that has plagued the project over the last 7 years.

Launching the construction work, Vajpayee assured the Karnataka government that the project would not suffer from the delay that had marked its initial conceptual stage.

"If we want to build an airport to service planes that can fly at supersonic speed, our machinery for approval and implementation must also work with supersonic speed," the prime minister asserted.

Vajpayee also expressed hope that the time-bound construction of the new Bangalore airport would become a model for all such prestigious infrastructure projects in the country, proving that India could build world-class projects on world-class schedules. "I look forward to its earliest possible completion," he added.

Terming the novel project with private sector participation a prestigious venture in the history of Indian civil aviation, the prime minister said since Bangalore was also known as the aerospace capital of India, with reputed institutions such as ISRO, HAL, NAL, ADA, and others, the garden city deserved nothing less than a world class airport.

"The limitations of the existing airport have been restricting the growth of passenger as well as of cargo traffic in Karnataka. Since I had responded to the demand of the state government for a new international airport in the city over 2 years ago, now the time has come to redeem this common wish of all of us," Vajpayee affirmed.

Calling for the speedy implementation of the project work, Vajpayee said the country should follow a similar approach in all infrastructure projects, irrespective of whether they are built by the public sector or the joint sector to ensure that there are no time and cost-overruns.

"Airports also represent a country's window to the world. Passengers form their first impressions of a nation from the state of its airports. They can be effectively used as symbols of national pride, if we pay enough attention to their quality and maintenance," the prime minister averred.

Commending the state government for initiating the project with private participation, Vajpayee said such an approach would be a living example of ideal Centre-state relationship. "I urge other states to adopt such innovative steps in setting up infrastructure facilities for their economic growth and development.

To come up in an area of 4,275 acres at an estimated cost of Rs 12 billion, the airport project is scheduled to be completed in the next 4-5 years. According to state minister for infrastructure development and civil aviation T John, the joint venture partner or consortium will be selected by April even as the task force will carry on the work to acquire the land required, including 1,368 acres of forest land, and 2,473 acres of private land, essentially the agriculture fields.

Two international firms, viz., Hochtief and Siemens, both from Germany, which have built the Dusseldorf and Zurich airports respectively, have been short-listed for executing the project.

It may be recalled that the Bombay-based Tata Sons had pulled out of the project citing inordinate delays in government clearances and approvals. The US-based Raytheon and the Changi international airport consortium of Singapore were to be the other partners of the Tatas.

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