AP: Oppn alleges 'ulterior motive' in scrapping of Bhogapuram

There was an "ulterior motive" behind the Andhra Pradesh government's move of cancelling tenders for an international airport at Bhogapuram, opposition parties have alleged, even as fresh details have emerged on the offer made by the AAI, which had won the bid.
A top official said that not just a 30.2 per cent share in revenues, but the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had also offered 26 per cent equity partnership to the AP government for granting the airport development rights.
Besides, the AAI also said it would pay a lease amount of Rs 20,000 per acre per annum that would have come to Rs 5,40,60,000 for the 2,703 acres.

In contrast, GMR Group had offered only 21.6 per cent as revenue share and nothing more, the official claimed.
Andhra Pradesh Airports Development Corporation Limited (APADCL) Managing Director M Venkateswarlu confirmed to PTI the offer made by the AAI.
Despite that, on January 20, the Chandrababu Naidu Cabinet decided to scrap the tenders and take up the airport development under the public-private partnership mode, allegedly to hand it over to a private player.

The Board of Directors of APADCL, formerly known as Bhogapuram International Airport Development Corporation, met on December 20 last year and approved the offer made by the AAI saying it was "the most beneficial" for the state.

It also felt that the proposed aero city and aviation academy "may not be feasible" at this point of time, an official of the APADCL Board said.
The Board sent its observations to the Empowered Committee of Secretaries, headed by Energy, Infrastructure and Investment Department Principal Secretary Ajay Jain.
Jain, incidentally, is also a member of the APADCL Board.
The Empowered Committee met here on December 29 and backed the recommendations of the APADCL Board.
The recommendations were also communicated to the Finance Department.
However, the Empowered Committee left the final decision on awarding the contract to the cabinet, in line with what chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu wanted during the previous cabinet meeting on December 1.

Accordingly, the fresh note -- mentioning these points -- was placed before the cabinet on January 20 and it decided to scrap the entire tenders, leaving the winner AAI dismayed.
Lashing out at the AP government, YSR Congress spokesman Ambati Rambabu said, "The Chandrababu Naidu government cancelled the tenders as it has to deal with a central government agency. Its ulterior motive is to award the contract to a private player so that kickbacks could be sought."
"Chandrababu's only aim is to get maximum commercial leverage so that the ill-gotten wealth could be spent in the ensuing elections," he alleged.

CPM state secretariat member Ch Narasinga Rao also criticised the state's decision saying the tenders were cancelled only because GMR could not win the race.
"The government wanted to favour GMR Group to get commissions. It is not at all interested in the development of the state," Narasinga Rao alleged.
With the chief minister and other key ministers away in Davos for the World Economic Forum meet, there hasn't been a reaction yet to the opposition criticism over the Bhogapuram airport controversy.