Karnataka CM chooses CII summit to talk of achievements

Even as Karnataka chief minister N Dharam Singh promised uninterrupted power supply not only to the industrial sector, but also the agricultural sector, the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation has reimposed its six hours of power shutdown in rural areas.

While the reasons given for this is the shortage of rainfall, what is more worrying is the fact that there is every possibility for it to be extended even to urban areas.

Speaking at a session on "State Integrated Infrastructure Promotion-Invest Karnataka", which was part of the CII Summit on "Sustainable Public Private Partnerships in infrastructure" in Bangalore on Thursday, Singh's promise sometimes boomeranged.

In an another instance, the chief minister, in his address, said that the single most important land mark in his tenure so far, was the setting up of a new International Airport at Devanahalli, near Bangalore.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the same conference, two private stakeholders of the Bangalore International Airport, L&T and Unique Zurich Airport, have clearly indicated that their patience is running out.

This highlighted the pace with which the government is tackling the issue and the amount of time it is taking to achieve a financial closure.

The chief minister also made several other announcements. The state government has signed a Rs 10,000 crore Memorandum of Understanding with the Power Grid Corporation of India to improve the distribution system.

Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd is scheduled to take up new distribution at an estimated cost of Rs 3,580 crore. It has also been decided to acquire 100 acre of land for development of biotechnology industries.

The general consensus among delegates who have kept track of the coalition government in Karnataka was that the chief minister did not throw any light on solving infrastructure hurdles in the state.

"The chief minister chose to talk about the achievements of his government than elaborating on what the state is planing to do for tackling infrastructure bottlenecks," a delegate said.

The chief minister also found the occasion to be appropriate to talk about the recent tie up with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, where the state government signed an agreement with the former for development of Mega Petro Chemical projects at an estimated cost of Rs 25,000 crore.

This is expected to pave way for setting up of a new gas pipe line running across the state. This has nothing to do with infrastructure.

If there was one thing Singh took everyone by surprise, then it was the government's stand on the Bangalore Metro Rail project.

"Bangalore Metro Rail project being set up at a cost of Rs 4,800 crore has been personally reviewed by me last week. I am confident that the prestigious project will be approved by the government within the next 15 days and work will commence by January 2005. It is expected to be completed within the next 36 months," Singh said.