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Airport project still mired in red-tape: Deccan Herald
Bangalore, May 10: It is a typical case of the pot calling the kettle black. While the S M Krishna government has blamed the BJP-led Centre for two years` delay in granting approval for the international airport project, the State`s own crucial approval - on site design - has been pending for over one-and-a-half years.
Bangalore, May 10: It is a typical case of the pot calling the kettle black. While the S M Krishna government has blamed the BJP-led Centre for two years’ delay in granting approval for the international airport project, the State’s own crucial approval — on site design — has been pending for over one-and-a-half years.
Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) officials say they submitted plans of the Devanahalli project to the State government over 18 months ago. Since then, the approval has been going through various stages of red-tape.
“If the Centre’s approval for the most important Concession Agreement (CA) has been pending since May 2002, our land-use approval has been pending for over a year with the State government too,” said a senior BIAL official. The approval is crucial to begin any kind of construction work. The ground-breaking ceremony for the project, however, was done by Chief Minister S M Krishna in late January — though the plan sanction had not come. Sanction of land-use of the airport area is vested with the Bangalore International Airport Area Planning Authority (Biaapa), an authority set up just for the Devanahalli project. Biaapa is to review the construction plans, land-use planning, building plans and other parameters, and ensure that safety norms are adhered to.
According to Infrastructure Development Department Principal Secretary S Krishna Kumar, his department and BIAL have ensured that the plans of the airport are in tune with Biaapa’s norms. “Only getting the Biaapa’s stamp of approval is pending. It has been delayed as we wanted the fees for plan-sanction to be reduced, for which the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act had to be amended,” Mr Kumar said. The Act, existing since 1963, allows for plan approvals for sites (houses and commercial complexes) based on square feet area and fees to be charged accordingly. As the airport project is spread over 4,000 acres of land, this would have meant that BIAL paid through its nose to just get the plan sanctions. As such, BIAL sought reduced fees. The government then decided to amend the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, to allow for plan sanctions to be measured in terms of acres. This amendment came about a few months ago. Then the government proposed another amendment to exempt (or waive) fees for plan sanctions for designated infrastructure projects like the international airport. This second amendment was passed two months ago and sent to Raj Bhavan for the governor’s assent. Raj Bhavan sources said, however, that the second amendment to the town planning act has been sent back after the Governor raised objections to certain other provisions (which are not related to the airport project) in the same amendment Bill. Mr Krishna Kumar however said the Biaapa approval is “only a formality”. “It is not really holding up the project. The Centre’s nod is most crucial and is holding up the project. If the Centre had been given its nod earlier, we could have just issued an Ordinance to amend the Town Planning Act and expedited the design sanction,” he added.
“If the Centre’s approval for the most important Concession Agreement (CA) has been pending since May 2002, our land-use approval has been pending for over a year with the State government too,” said a senior BIAL official. The approval is crucial to begin any kind of construction work. The ground-breaking ceremony for the project, however, was done by Chief Minister S M Krishna in late January — though the plan sanction had not come. Sanction of land-use of the airport area is vested with the Bangalore International Airport Area Planning Authority (Biaapa), an authority set up just for the Devanahalli project. Biaapa is to review the construction plans, land-use planning, building plans and other parameters, and ensure that safety norms are adhered to.
According to Infrastructure Development Department Principal Secretary S Krishna Kumar, his department and BIAL have ensured that the plans of the airport are in tune with Biaapa’s norms. “Only getting the Biaapa’s stamp of approval is pending. It has been delayed as we wanted the fees for plan-sanction to be reduced, for which the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act had to be amended,” Mr Kumar said. The Act, existing since 1963, allows for plan approvals for sites (houses and commercial complexes) based on square feet area and fees to be charged accordingly. As the airport project is spread over 4,000 acres of land, this would have meant that BIAL paid through its nose to just get the plan sanctions. As such, BIAL sought reduced fees. The government then decided to amend the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, to allow for plan sanctions to be measured in terms of acres. This amendment came about a few months ago. Then the government proposed another amendment to exempt (or waive) fees for plan sanctions for designated infrastructure projects like the international airport. This second amendment was passed two months ago and sent to Raj Bhavan for the governor’s assent. Raj Bhavan sources said, however, that the second amendment to the town planning act has been sent back after the Governor raised objections to certain other provisions (which are not related to the airport project) in the same amendment Bill. Mr Krishna Kumar however said the Biaapa approval is “only a formality”. “It is not really holding up the project. The Centre’s nod is most crucial and is holding up the project. If the Centre had been given its nod earlier, we could have just issued an Ordinance to amend the Town Planning Act and expedited the design sanction,” he added.