Centre to pick up stake in Nagpur air cargo project: Patel

Union minister for civil aviation Praful Patel on Sunday said that the Centre will have equity participation in the Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation (MADC) for developing the proposed multi-modal international air cargo hub in Nagpur.

Interacting with newsmen at a programme organised by the Nagpur Union of Working Journalists (NUWJ), Patel said there was no proposal to shift the project to any other place in the state or the region.

There were rumours that the project might be hijacked by politicians from Western Maharashtra, but Patel effectively scotched such talks.

Patel said that the project was taking shape and would now be speeded up. He declined to give a time frame on when the air cargo hub would materialise saying that these things take time. "We are looking into it and issues are being sorted out," he said.

His remarks gain significance in the light of assertions by R C Sinha, vice-chairman and managing director of MADC, that the cargo hub project should be operational by December 2006. Addressing local industrialists here a few days ago, Sinha had said that the estimated dates for completing formalities for the cargo hub were being worked out.

Sinha had also said that the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) would operational by August 2007.

"The government is committed to the project. I am convinced it is financially viable and will trigger growth not only in Maharashtra but also neighbouring states. Completing the project is not going to be an easy job but it's not impossible also. It has to be taken up as a challenge," Sinha had pointed out.