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Photographs: courtesy Bangalore International Airport Ltd.

The Bangalore International Airport was recently pulled up for ‘faulty’ design and construction. Ar Apurva Bose Dutta speaks to experts to Get a perspective on the burning issue.

The Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) was recently in the news for all the wrong reasons. A joint legislative committee (JLC) enquiring into the airport’s ‘faulty’ design and construction termed the BIA below global standards.

The report titled ‘Examination of construction of the Bangalore International Airport’ recommended that the private partners in the consortium for the construction of the airport should be blacklisted and not considered for any work by the government for a minimum of five years owing to the ‘poor quality of workmanship’ that has been shown in the project.

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It also said that ‘appropriate action’ should be taken against the officers involved in important decisions regarding the project. BIA Ltd is a consortium of Unique Zurich Airport, Siemens Project Ventures and Larsen & Toubro (L&T), with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Karnataka government as stakeholders.

Not by design
The committee listed many flaws starting from the design approval stage of the project. Concerns were expressed over the design of an ‘industrial shed’ and over the absence of a structure depicting the culture of Karnataka.

The report said that the terminal building is already saturated as it has not been designed properly. It questions the ‘very premise of the public-private partnership model on which the airport project was built’ as the private equity holders are themselves service providers in BIAL, leading to a case of conflict of interest.

The imposition of user development fee was criticised, and the report demanded immediate action to recover Rs 100 crore drawn by BIAL in the form of Cenvat concessions.

The panel also suggested that the government should consider the AAI’s report to reopen the old HAL airport for short-distance flights. And it wanted the new airport to be named after Kempegowda, the founder of Bengaluru.

When contacted, the BIA authorities said that they have been in constant dialogue with the JLC and have supported them with all the requisite information. They also said that they will review the report and implement its recommendations.