The Rs 1,600 crore airport project to be set up at Devanahalli, near Bangalore, by a consortium of Tata Industries, Raytheon of the US and Singapore International Airlines has been cleared on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.
Announcing this before newspersons in Mumbai on Sunday night, civil aviation minister C M Ibrahim said he had held discussions on the matter three days ago with the Tatas and the Karnataka government, and both had agreed to build the airport on a BOT basis.
Ibrahim said the issue could have been settled six months ago, if the Tatas had agreed on the BOT clause, instead of a BOO (build-own-operate) basis. He said the law ministry would be approached to oversee if the tender for the project could be changed from BOO to BOT.
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Asked if the existing airport in Bangalore would have to be closed down, as demanded by the consortium, the minister said it was not necessary, as the traffic was expected to grow. He said the current growth in traffic was 12 per cent per annum.
The minister said the project cost was too high, considering that about 400 acres was being given free.
On the aviation policy, Ibrahim said the cabinet had taken a decision that led to the rejection of the domestic airline proposal of the Tata-Singapore Airlines combine. I dont think the policy will come up for review again.