Anjuli Bhargava: Mayawati's magic

OUT OF THE BLUE

I wouldn't want to be in the shoes of the DIAL managing director and head of airport business for the GMR group, Kiran Kumar Grandhi. In a battle to protect his turf, he finds himself pitched against the 52-year-old Uttar Pradesh chief minister, who is by all accounts, a lady to reckon with.

Earlier this month, Mayawati, who is currently in fear of losing her own life, held a gun to the head of the government and managed to galvanise the Cabinet into action. She is insisting that her pet project "" an airport at Jewar in Greater Noida "" be cleared before the government goes in for elections, where its clear victory "" and hence her new airport's clearance "" is far from guaranteed.

She wants to showcase this airport as her gift to her state. Anyone living in the heartland of UP or anyone who's had the privilege of driving through its charming towns "" like I have on numerous trips to its hills "" will agree that decent roads, rather than fancy airports, is the only gift it urgently needs.

The Cabinet was informed that the existing policy which does not allow a second airport within a 150-km radius is not "relevant" as in this case. While the upgraded Delhi airport will be able to cater to the traffic requirements, the associated infrastructure won't. If this is the case, wouldn't it make better economic sense to upgrade the associated infrastructure than build a new airport?

Over time, both airports will ideally require seamless connectivity from and to the city, which implies that associated infrastructure will have to be upgraded not in one place but two. Considering how well the IGI airport has been connected so far (from most parts of the city barring South Delhi, it can take anywhere between one and two hours, something like a flight between Delhi and Mumbai), I shudder to think of how the city planners will fare with two such projects.

There's a second issue with the proposal. With a distance of just 68 km (which can be covered by air in 15 minutes), it would make little difference to airlines whether they land at Delhi or Greater Noida. Traffic will be divided and many airlines will be forced to set up counters and replicate facilities at both at a time when they can quite happily land at one.

So, we will end up with two financially weak airports, neither financially viable. Capacity at both would be underutilised, resulting in higher aero-charges and higher airline operating costs. Neither will emerge as a "hub for the region", a long-cherished dream of the government.

When I mentioned this to a senior government official, he said in his view, Mayawati had made this into a prestige issue and that Shashank Shekhar Singh, her cabinet secretary, was doing little besides pushing this project

But he pointed out that there was more to this than meets the eye. According to him, there are many who don't really care whether the new airport ever gets off the ground. The announcements are good enough. Land prices in the area have gone up dramatically, since the in-principle approval came through. Fifteen times, if brokers' claims are to be believed. The proposal reaching the Cabinet is a second milestone. This will push prices further.

In other words, it works out best for the land owners, if clearances come with gaps, since land can then be sold at different points in smaller lots, as prices escalate.

He, and many others, feel that the project is being pushed mainly at the behest of a leading hotels and construction group based in Delhi, the proprietor of which shares a special equation with the UP chief minister and who holds large tracts of land (close to 15,000 hectares, according to the grapevine) in the Greater Noida region.

If all goes as planned, he says, the same group will be awarded the Ganga Expressway "" another pet project of Mayawati's "" in the next few weeks (interestingly, this is apparently the first time a single company is set to bag the rights to build all stretches of a highway and that too one that's 1,047 km long).

The expressway once built will enhance connectivity of five integrated townships in the area, one of which is close to the proposed airport. If the airport is cleared, you don't need to be a real estate wizard to figure out what it will do in terms of prices of all projects and proposed townships in the area (including the likes of Unitech Cascades and Jaypee Greens).

When I commented on the lightning speed at which the proposal "" which had been languishing since 2002 "" reached the Cabinet, Singh laughed. He said he himself was impressed, referring to it as "Mayawati's magic".

So, whatever may be the motivations, the Greater Noida airport will continue to give DIAL tension, even though it may just be a pie in the sky. Top GMR officials also met Uttar Pradesh authorities to say that if the airport is inevitable, they should be granted it. But, this clearly may take more than just saying.