| "We are hoping that the new government in the state will take the BIAL project forward as per schedule. If the financial closure is not achieved by December this year, our patience will run out. We will have to rethink on whether we should spend more time on this project," said Juergen Schubert, managing director, Siemens Ltd. |
| Schubert was speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of Siemens' announcement to open its first advanced R&D centre in Bangalore on Monday. |
| The construction of the Bangalore International Airport must commence by January 1, 2005, failing which there will be a huge delay once again because the Concessional Agreement signed in July 2004, will expire in December 2004. |
| Since the Concessional Agreement is valid only for six months, it will have to be renegotiated if construction does not begin by January 1, 2005. |
| Schubert added that the Siemens Consortium, which currently holds a 74 per cent stake in the Bangalore International Airport, has already spent about $17 million (about Rs 78.2 crore) on the project. |
| As of now, the total cost of the project is Rs 1340 crore. While Rs 315 crore will be the equity portion, Rs 675 crore will come as debt. The state support would constitute the remaining Rs 350 crore. This would be an interest-free loan but it must be paid back within 10 years after the grace period. |
| The Karnataka State Industrial Investment and Development Corporation and the Airports Authority of India have 13 per cent stake each in the project. The Siemens consortium has 74 per cent stake and is lead by Siemens Project Ventures GmbH of Germany, Unique Zurich Airport and construction major L&T. ICICI Bank is the lender for the project. |
| The airport is expected to come up in 30-33 months from the time work on it starts. This will be followed by a three-month trial run before the Director General of Civil Aviation licenses the facility for public use. |
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