The Uttar Pradesh government has stepped up efforts to retrieve the Rs 5,000-crore greenfield Taj International Aviation Hub (TIAH) in Jewar, which seems to be stuck in inter-ministerial logjam.
Almost two months after a group of ministers (GoM) directed the ministry of law and the civil aviation ministry to ?mutually discuss and finalise the legal issues?, if any, pertaining to the project and come to it with a solution, the UP government has now again written to the ministry of civil aviation and the Prime Minister?s Office, requesting that a discussion meeting between the two ministries, under the chairmanship of the cabinet secretary, be held at the earliest. It has also requested that the state government be allowed to participate in the meeting to put up its views on the issue.
According to reliable sources in the state industry department, the letter, written by the infrastructure and industrial development commissioner Atul Kumar Gupta to civil aviation secretary Ashok Chawla a week back, is the latest in the string of correspondences that have been sent by the state government, pleading for the early disposal of the issue and granting in principal approval for the construction of the hub.
Speaking to FE, officials of the industry department rue the fact that the Centre?s dilly-dallying over the project is costing the state government dear. ?Despite getting the techno-feasibility approval way back in 2003, the project has been hanging fire for almost five years now. The need for a second airport in the National Capital Region (NCR) is essential, what with the estimated air traffic at the IGI Airport set to hit the 108 million mark by 2015-16. Also, the aviation hub, that is to come up at the site, would be the only hub of its kind in the entire Middle and South East Asia. It would not only increase tourist but also cargo traffic, which would lead to a massive economic growth in the entire northern part of the country,? he said, adding that it would have a cascading effect on the entire Indian economy, ?apart from transforming the economy of UP?.
It will be a catalyst in the growth in sectors such as tourism, hospitality, SEZ exports, agriculture exports and handicrafts. We are now requesting the Centre to give us a fair chance to put across our views in the discussion between the two ministries and explain to them our sincerity in ensuring that the bidding documents for the selection of the developer for the proposed TIAH project, would be suitably prepared so as to include adequate provisions for binding the developer to accept and abide by the contractual agreements entered into by the civil aviation ministry and the promoters of IGI ,? he said.
It may be mentioned that the Centre has been dragging its feet on the project turned controversial, what with the GMR group-backed Delhi International Airport (DIAL) stating that the new project will take away a majority of its air traffic and asking 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 state government had, in its earlier communication to the Center, already conveyed its willingness to accept and abide by all the contractual agreements that have been entered into by the Government of India with the GMR group.
By doing so, it has already ensured its responsibility in suitably preparing the bidding documents for the selection of developer for the proposed TIAH, so as to bind the developer to accept and abide by the contractual agreements of the GOI.