There is still hope for the long-awaited greenfield Kushinagar international airport project in eastern Uttar Pradesh. The project, which was first mooted by the Mayawati government in 2008, before being abandoned by developers for being ?unviable?, is once again on the threshold of resurrection. The SP government has taken it up as a priority project and efforts are on to invite letters of intent (LoIs) for the project to give it a fresh headstart. The UP has also decided to send the project to the Centre for viability gap funding after restructuring and scaling it down significantly. The airport project, which is to be built under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode on a design-build-finance-operate-transfer (DBFOT) basis, was earlier estimated to cost R 650 crore.
Speaking to FE, an official of the industry department said that the project has been approved by the state government and now efforts are on to issue an order asking for EoIs. ?We have already had discussions with the Planning Commission and the finance ministry, and our bid document will be vetted by them. The interaction with them has been very beneficial as we have received good inputs from them,? said an official requesting anonymity.
?In fact, Gajendra Haldea, advisor to the Montek Singh Ahluwalia, has shown a lot of enthusiasm for the only greenfield airport project in the country at present and has advised the inclusion of some clauses, which we are trying to do,? said the official, adding that by doing so, the project will get further strengthened.
It may be mentioned that the project, which has been on paper for almost four years now, was first estimated to cost R650 crore and the traffic projection was 4 lakh passengers.
?We have also come to the conclusion that in order to make the project attractive, we will add a provision of giving around 60 acres of land to the developer to build a hotel to cater to the arriving traffic in the area. This would act as a sweetener and would go a long way to get the project off the drawing board,? said an official of the state government on condition of anonymity.
An international airport at Kushinagar is expected to cater to the heavy traffic originating from Japan, China, Taiwan, Myanmar, S Korea, Bhutan, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Nepal. It is also thought that this project is integral for the integrated development of the entire Buddhist circuit, comprising of Kushinagar, Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, Kapilavastu, Shravasti, Sankisa and Kaushambi.