The love-hate relationship between the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre and the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh has cast a long shadow on the chief minister’s pet project, the Rs 5,000-crore greenfield Taj International Aviation Hub (TIAH) in Jewar, Greater Noida.
Despite having received the techno-feasibility report from the Centre as far back as 2003, the TIAH, which is supposed to act as decongesting agent for the burgeoning air traffic as well as operate as the only hub between West Asia and Southeast Asia, has been referred to the Group of Ministers (GoM) to sort out “certain legal issues”. This, in other words, sources in the state government say, means more delay.
“Despite the Union Cabinet giving a green signal to the project, the Centre has referred it to the GoM, saying there are certain legal issues that need to be sorted out,” a highly placed official in the state government said, adding that the delay in granting permission to TIAH is a loss of opportunity. “The Government of India has laid stress on the fact that things must move fast as the Commonwealth Games are to be held in the national capital in 2010. And in response, our aim was to try and operationalise at least one airstrip before the Games. But, with this indefinite delay, time is running out,” he said.
The GoM, headed by finance minister P Chidambaram, met on January 31, examined various issues, but failed to reach a conclusion. It is expected to meet again soon, the official said. Other members of the group include civil aviation minister Praful Patel, science and technology minister Kapil Sibal and law minister H R Bhardwaj.
The ‘legal issues’ that have cropped up pertain to the GMR group, which has bagged the Rs 8,900-crore modernisation plan of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. It had objected to the Cabinet go-ahead for the 3,700-acre Greater Noida site, which is about 70 km from the Delhi facility and claimed that that DIAL, a joint venture between the group and the Airport Authority of India, was not told that a second airport would be built within a 150-km radius.
The group also voiced fears that the proposed project would mean loss of business and revenue for DIAL and has asked the aviation ministry to ensure that the developers of TIAH, for which the group enjoys the first right of refusal, should have the same conditions as DIAL. The group has further tried to drive home the point that the new airport site was just 70 km away from Delhi Airport and thus violated the 150 km distance that aviation minister had said was essential between the existing airport and the new one.The state government, however, feels that this clause is arbitrary as no other country in the world has this kind of restriction.
However, according to sources, while these issues are already being looked into by the GoM, the recent souring of ties between the Centre and Mayawati on various matters, are bound to bring in new undercurrents to the entire process, thereby putting the project in peril.