Now for some news from Bangalore or should we say, Bengaluru? Just when all expected to see two new airports taking off from this month, Hyderabad and Bangalore, news comes in that the airport at Bangalore has been delayed.
Originally scheduled to open on the 30th of March, the airport will now put off by almost a month due to safety concerns and poor road connectivity from the city to the airport. Airports Authority of India (AAI), which reviewed the preparedness of the new greenfield airport, is not satisfied with the works of the airport operator. Bengaluru International Airport (BIAL) was built in a consortium led by Siemens, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Unique Zurich Airport, Karnataka government’s KSIIDC and AAI. Siemens holds 40% in BIAL, Unique Zurich and L&T hold 17% each in the company.
Another bone of contention is the levy of the user development fee (UDF). Though BIAL 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, there is major grouse as the other new airport, opening on 16th March, led by the GMR Group, is not only meeting the opening deadline but has also decided to waive off the UDF for the initial two months. The swanky airport is scheduled to be inaugurated by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on March 14.
This delay by BIAL raises some serious questions about the credibility of high caliber companies like L&T and Siemens. These companies have taken up much larger projects and have been in the industry for ages, so how come they could not do their job well. Compared to them GMR is a new kid on the block and yet it has successfully managed to wrap up its work within schedule. Clearly, Siemens and L&T need to relook at where things went wrong or else, others will have to relook at them, from an investment point of view and also from handing over mega projects to them. GMR Infra, take a bow!
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