"We have received over good response to our invitations for the appointment of consultant," he said, adding that over 50 applications are to be examined.The evaluation process is on and after the appointing these consultants the ministry will submit a detailed proposal of corporatisation to the Cabinet which will take the final decision, he added.

On the delay in selection, he said, for almost one month, the government was not able to carry out normal functions due to political developments. "A lot of time was consumed in confidence and no-confidence motions," he said.

Corporatisation of these airports is required to make these autonomous entity with in the organisation, he said. This will enable them to tie up with private companies for expansion andnew projects.

Due do the growing air traffic, these airports need expansion of the existing facilities such as new terminals. Considering the large funds required for these projects, the private sector participation is crucial, he added.

"We have already signed a memorandum of understanding with Karnataka. Construction of the Bangalore international airport at Devanhalli, Karnataka is scheduled to start from July 15", Ananth Kumar said. The joint venture partner from the private sector will for the proposed projects will be selected in two months, he said.

The Airport Authority of India (AAI) and the Karnataka State Industrial and Investment Board (KSIIDC) have already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up a joint venture to build an international airport at Devanahalli, Karnataka.

As per the MoU, AAI and KSIIDC will have 13 per cent of equity each and the balance 74 per cent will be held by the private local/foreign partner, he said, adding that the selection for the third partner willbe made in two months. Construction of the aircraft will commence by July 15, he said.

The eight-member steering committee will appoint a technical adviser by the week-end which will prepare the tender format and preliminary information memorandum (PIM). By May 15, the sharp notice tenders would be invited. "We will give three weeks for response after which we will take three weeks for evaluation and by July 15 the construction should commence," he said.

When asked if the Tatas, who were to build the project earlier have approached the government, the minister said, if they want to participate they have to put a fresh proposal in response to the new call.

He said the government has cleared a number of outstanding issues which had been delaying the implementation of the project. The former government could not even decided whether the project should be based on the built-own-transfer (BOT), built-own-operate (BOO) or the built-own-operate-transfer (BOOT). "We have decided that the project will be set upon the basis of BOO," he added.