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Hunt for Devanahalli airport partners begins

Madhumathi D.S.

BANGALORE, Jan. 9

THE newly-floated special purpose vehicle, Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), for the Devanahalli airport has got into work mode by scouting for more minor partners to join the project; and taking stock of the peripheral infrastructure activitie s that should be in place at the site.

However, Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) will also be a safety mechanism against `future shocks' and can even step in to attract fresh collaborators to take the airport project forward, if the present selection exercise should fail for any rea son.

While exploring alternatives it can even call for fresh bids if necessary.

For, the State Government is now wiser but still smarting from the 1998 fiasco when its earlier bid with the Tatas-led consortium was railroaded for no fault of its own.

Mr B.K. Das, Principal Secretary, Infrastructure Development, who is one of the three directors, told Business Line that for now, BIAL's priority is to ensure amenities including a high-speed rail and road access to the venue about 35 km from the city, b esides co-ordinating with the Centre and smoothening policy glitches.

A KSIIDC-sponsored survey predicts close to three million fliers from Day 1 in the next three to four years and set to double by 2010.

BIAL, which precedes the eventual entity to be formed with the majority promoter, is exploring a modern, quick airport shuttle access between Bangalore and Devanahalli. It will decide whether the existing Bangalore-Chikballapur broad gauge track that goe s right up to the airport site will suffice or a new line is needed.

One option is that BIAL itself can, along with the Indian Railways and the new State body, the Karnataka Rail Development Corporation (K-Rail), put a new track to run an airport shuttle.

Simultaneously, the company will be involved in the award of the 18-km four-lane dedicated tolled expressway from Hebbal to the airport. Detailed reports for the BOOT-based project are awaited. NHAI is also implementing part of the stretch of the Devanah alli-Hebbal expressway under the Prime Minister's North-South corridor project.

BIAL, just a few days old and chaired by Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy of Infosys, is talking to FIs and professional bodies which would be taking a stake in it as partners in the project. Among them is HUDCO, which is providing Rs 150 crore aid towards land a cquisition.

IDeck (Infrastructure Development Corporation of Karnataka) will temporarily hold the equity and divest it in favour of the final holding company that will be formed with the 74 per cent majority holder.

In the months to come, core activities for the airport such as power, water supply, communications will have to get under way. These should be in place when the two finalist consortia which are in the race for the project will submit their detailed proje ct reports around April. Getting environmental clearances and geotechnical surveys will also be among its tasks.

For the current exercise, the Government was determined to keep the airport cost as low as possible -- around Rs 1,000-1,200 crore for phase I, Mr Das said. (It was around Rs 2,000 crore in the Tata proposal days). Some 4,500 acres of land worth Rs 350 c rore has been earmarked, about Rs 200 crore worth of it owned by the State Government.