DIAL, UP spar over Noida airport sops

A pressure situation is building over the proposed Greater Noida airport, with the Uttar Pradesh government pushing for its quick clearance and Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), which is modernising Delhi airport, keen to see the project put on the back-burner.

A note seeking clearance for the project has been sent to the Union Cabinet (within just four months after Mayawati took charge) and is expected to be taken up for discussion very soon.

The Cabinet has been asked to give "in-principle" approval to Taj International Aviation Hub in Gautam Buddha Nagar district.

A senior government official said the UP government was keen for clearance from the Union Cabinet prior to the general elections, which might change political equations and impact the fate of the project.

Sources said the state government intended to offer tax breaks for the airport and has explicitly stated this in the note sent to the Cabinet.

Meanwhile, DIAL has indicated it will seek compensation and demand a level-playing field. Cognisant of DIAL's opposition to the venture, the note to the Cabinet points out that the central government has at no stage given any traffic guarantee to DIAL or assured exclusive rights to IGI airport.

DIAL is not taking things lying down. After writing a letter on October 17 objecting the proposed airport, DIAL executives have been meeting the officials concerned and arguing their case.

In a missive to key government officials, they have raised almost 10 "substantive points against the facility", a senior official told Business Standard.

They maintain that at the time of the request-for-proposal by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for restructuring Mumbai and Delhi airports, the indicative plan by the AAI for Delhi contemplated only a single airport, unlike in Mumbai, where Navi Mumbai was mentioned.

DIAL has clearly indicated that it expects no special concessions from the UP government to the new project and will seek for it the same "stringent" performance conditions that they (DIAL) are expected to meet.

"We are not saying 'don't build the airport'. But let the new facility be on an equal footing. Let the competition be among equals," said a DIAL source.

He says his company has to ensure certain performance standards, build 74 aerobridges and faces restrictions on the use of land, several of these, he adds, can dramatically change the cost and dynamics of the project.