Karnataka gets in-principle approval for four airports

New Delhi: Karnataka’s proposal to set up four greenfield airports at Gulbarga, Bijapur, Hassan and Shimoga have been given an ‘in-principle’ approval by the Centre.

This clears the way for the promoters of Hassan and Shimoga airports to directly approach the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for a licence to make the airport operational.

The promoters of Gulbarga and Bijapur have, however, been asked to formalise the standard operating procedures (SOP) on the use of airspace with the DGCA, Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Ministry of Defence as this was also used for Defence operations from Pune and Bidar.

“Once the SOP issue has been sorted out, the Gulbarga and Bijapur airports will also be able to approach the DGCA for an operational licence without having to come back before the committee,” a senior Government official said.

The four projects cleared are being developed on a build-operate-transfer basis over the next two years by the private sector and the Karnataka Government.

The proposals were given ‘in-principle’ approval at the meeting of the Steering Committee on greenfield airports.

The committee is headed by the Secretary Civil Aviation and includes representatives of Ministries of Home and Defence apart from officials from the Department of Economic Affairs, Department of Revenue, Planning Commission, Indian Meteorological Department, Airports Authority of India and DGCA.

At the meeting it was also decided that the Greenfield airport projects will be monitored and if it was felt that adequate progress is not being made within a year of grant of ‘in-principle’ approval, this would be withdrawn.

In Hassan, the 2,500-acre airport project has been awarded on MoU basis with Mr Rajeev Chandrashekar’s venture, Jupiter Aviation Ltd, on design and build-operate-transfer basis and is expected to be completed by 2009.

In April this year, the State sealed both the agreements for Shimoga and Gulbarga with a single consortium of the Hyderabad-based majors, Maytas Infra and NCC Infra, and allotted 650 acres for each airport.

Maytas and NCC have partnered with Vienna International Airport’s arm, VIE India Project Development and Holding LLC.

Over the next two years, the promoters plan to pump Rs 100 crore into each airport project through separate special purpose vehicles - Shimoga Airport Developers P Ltd and Gulbarga Airport Developers P Ltd.