Kalaburgi: With work on the Kalaburagi airport project held up once again due to a court order, it appears to be jinxed as little has gone right for it from the start.
The state government entrusted the task of completing the much delayed airport project, which was supposed to have been ready in 2012, to the Public Works Department (PWD) in January 2015 after the Airports Authority of India (AAI) refused to accept the responsibility.
The government had turned to the AAI for help in completing the project after it terminated the contract with the then project promoter, Gulbarga Airport Development Limited, a joint venture between Rahi Aviation Holdings and IL&FS Transportation Networks .
The government was at the time interested in building the Rs 120-crore project on a public-private- partnership basis. The private partner was supposed to build, operate and run the airport on a 30-year lease.
But the project work was hit by a dispute between the two subsidiaries of IL&FS - IL&FS Transport and IL&FS Engineering - on financial matters. Later when the 3,100-metre runway was completed and 50 per cent of the work on the terminal building was done , differences cropped up among the joint venture partners themselves, holding up the work again. Now when the PWD is trying to make headway, the court has asked it hold off for the time being.
At the Vigilance Committee meeting chaired by the Congress MP, Mallikarjun Kharge,on Saturday, the PWD Executive Engineer said the bid for the tender for the first phase of work amounting to Rs 71.21 crore had been opened a couple of days ago and was due to be awarded now. “But the court has directed us to wait till the plea of the bankers is heard, ” he explained.
