Large PPPs like BIAL - ripe for corruption?

Had the pleasure of going thru TOI news item along with the informative comments from all of you.

VVR, loved your comments and I am sure people would pounced on you for showing the mirror to us.

From the report and info from various sources it seems AAI has perfected the art of playing the multiple roles at the same time. In BIAL Saga, it has excelled in playing the role of guilty, prosecutor and Judge to the highest perfection. It deserves a ACADEMY AWARD and Life time Achievement award.

GUILTY - Who can deny that when Burner and company constructed the terminal, it slept over all these three years without uttering a word even if meant the terminal design was undercapacity or not upto the IATA/ICAO standards to provide 27.3 sqm of space per peak hour passenger (PHP). Actually, in its RTI reply, it acknowedges that constantly it reviewed the design but did not felt obliged to make any recomendation or suggestions. This suggests either they are incompetent to understand the design details of any airport structure or they just looked the other way. Curruption and inefficiency are core competency of AAI. I am sure for that it could get listed in Fortune 500.

PROSECUTOR - Having slept for 3 years, suddenly wakes up in January 2008 and starts prosecuting Burner & Co with selective leaks to friends and friendly media about ATC being not ready, not enough ATC personnel, capacity numbers game etc. In its role of prosecutor, it starts laying the charges of lower capacity terminal, compares it with our Favorite HAL airport. Suddenly HAL capacity is certified to be 10 million. Our Pro-HAL friends must be jumping in their board rooms celeberating the possible coup on Brunner & Company. It now proudly certfies the BIAL terminal to be 19.8 sqm per PHP and suddenly realises that it is a deviation with the concession agreement. Actually it forgot that they are 13% equity holder and 2 of its mmebers sit on the board.

JUDGE - Having accomplished the roles of guilty and prosecutor at the same, it did not forget to deliver the judgement. The Judgement is HAL airport should be opened.

I would urge everybody, if they claim that they "CARE" for Bangalore and care about their tax money, it is time we file a PIL against AAI and their friends to held them accountable for all the failures in BIAL. All the AAI bureacrats related to BIAL project and its nominated board members on BIAL to be prosecuted and severley punished if found guilty. I would like to see how many of our "Pro-HAL" supporters who have been shouting from rooft tops that they are not against BIAL, would support such a cause.

Prajagale, let's find the legal way to fix the AAI for its bunglings in BIAL.

BT, count me in for the legal adventure against AAI.

Syed

Some thoughts...Praja has a better clout than us as individuals. Any lawyer on praja? I think we all should do our part and pitch in. Let's start collecting relevant documents and facts through RTI -

1) I have started with the 2nd runway flipflop drama that was going on a few weeks back as I mentioned in my previous post. I am caught in a loop which will hopefully get resolved  http://img185.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rtirequesttoembassy001cn0.jpg. I will also pitch in with stuff related to operational efficiency, traffic justification for just 1 airport or having 2 airports and other stuff which may not be available publicly at present but can perhaps be extracted through RTI (who knows, there may be a possibility and I am willing to try). 

2) Syed can you tackle documents related to the initial bidding process? We need the project proposal submitted by as many bidders as possible to understand why the current consortium was chosen and to rule out that we better airport & terminal design was deliberately not chosen. 

3) Devesh, you seem to be knowledgeable of the AAI study that was done and you have interacted with one of the individuals. From your previous posts on SSC and praja you seem knowledgeable about the financials & economics. So, could you pitch in through RTI to get the relevant facts and share it on praja?

4) Can somebody on behalf of praja pitch in by exploring some way of having the courts appoint a neutral non government 3rd party (free of govt pressure, having no conflict of interests, free of BIAL pressure) - a) do a complete study of BIAL capacity as well as HAL capacity b) do an audit of BIAL's immediate and future master plan to see if it fits the needs & recommend changes if needed?

Admin,

 Not sure what "anonymous_coward"  is intended to be meant...I would suggest....  "respecting each other's privacy" would be more appropriate :-) 

SB,

It looks like all the pages has not been posted here. Actually the 8th page in AAI_Reply_02_BIAL document contains some answers that clearly indicts AAI rather than private partners.

Could you pls post these documents in its enterity?

P. S. I have emailed you these docs. 

Syed 

Syed, I propose a little balance with reference to the BIAL issue.

From what I hear from various state government and central government officers, they have advised / suggested to BIAL many many many times to expand the terminal and other support facilities.

However, BIAL has refused to heed their inputs.

AAI may be a governmental organisation, and I have experienced their lethargy in the past. I have met members of the AAI planning team which came to Bangalore. From my expert opinion, these people knew their stuff.

Please see my 28/May visit report to BIAL airport. http://aviation.deveshaga.... There have been serious lapses on the part of BIAL itself. Even after a 2 month delay in opening, not having buildings for airlines' offices, customs and cargo agents, do not speak well of the planning capabilities of BIAL. Mr. Brunner openly admitted that BIAL completely forgot about the cargo & customs agents' building.

We seem to be very quick to point fingers at our Government. Yes, based on past history, they deserve our cynicism, but I feel Praja should take a more balanced approach and attempt to go in this situation without pre-judgement.

-----------------------

Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

Visit my aviation blog at http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com

Things have to happen in some sequence and without prejudice or assumptions. Jumping into blaming X Y or Z will make us look no different from mainstream media. First job would be to collect some facts, and I see them in this order

• The structural aspects of the PPP called BIAL
  
  • Who committed to bring in how much money (this should be in public domain)
  • Value brought in by government via non-cash investments - land at subsidized costs. Is this included in GoK's percentage stake in PPP?
  • The agreements (CA), and the dates when these were amended, plus exact amendments made.
• Accounting aspects
  • Reports about actual investments made in project so far. How much surplus, how much shortfall.
  • How many such reports have been submitted
  • Who has been auditing these reports

bialterminal, bidding is certainly another area to look at. But I would say that the stuff after PPP was crystallized is more important because it helps us answer the question - are large PPPs set up for corruption because of their weak norms of disclosure? is BIAL a bad or a good example of PPP?

Frankly, I dont think we will have to or should do the full job here, we may not have the resources. But if we manage to get some information un-earthed here, I am sure mainstream media will pick it up and do the rest. Conversely, if we figure that BIAL or MoCA/AAI's dealings are all fair, we should do our best to not let regular media malign this PPP.

Talk is cheap, let the RTIs begin.

I am all for the RTIs. As I said, the RTIs should be filed with AAI, MoCA, KSIIDC, Principal Secretary Infrastructure GoK and Chief Secretary GoK, 

I am just cautioning about pre-judging. We need to go in with a balanced frame of mind.

-----------------------

Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

Visit my aviation blog at http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com

Quoting your response to Bialterminal

'... If you see, HIAL, it is very close to what you are saying. In the late 1990's India did not have the developers with money, or reliable construction companies. Today we do. Let's face it. ...'

Seems like you cleverly get amnesia when it suits you! Do you remember a small company called the Tatas was the first one on board. Do you know why they pulled out? Wasn't L&T also rumoured to be interested originally? Do you remember why Mr. Narayanmurthy quit the BIAL committee? Can you tell me the primary difference between the players involved in BIAL & HIAL? I'll give a little hint, alright a big hint its not Siemens (your favorite target), it's called the GoK and the self-styled saviours of the motherland and it's poor and downtrodden.

I'll tell you something else, Siemens got played by the masters of the bait and switch. They are not used to dealing with the consumate two-faced politicians our country and especially our state seems to specialize in.

Notwithstanding everything else, AAI, MOCA, etc. do come out this smelling like roses. Even if the Mint article was a mistake. HAL has 10% less capacity than BIAL is a load BS, you can claim expertise, walking talking encylopaedia's etc. , but having experienced both, it is absolute nonsense. HAL is a piece of crap, looks and smells like a public urinal cannot handle even 2M passengers a year with any degree of comfort.

You are more than welcome to tout its effeciency and capacity but, it will never make it the truth.

--amaku

Hi Devesh,

No, I wasn't aware of the Head recruitment for phase 2. Thanks for pointing that out. Where can I read more about it? I think I missed that post of your's perhaps. Anybody aware of the detailed plans for phase2 and how the terminal is going to be? I have been looking for it on the web without success so far.

SB,

 This is first time hearing about a unique management practice that we execute a project without setting any goals or rather not knowing what should be the end result and waht needed to be executed. From your posting it seems you are suggesting to go forward without having any direction and where does Praja's efforts ends. 

 Let me know if it is not important that we draw a specific list of action items that we will work on w..r.t BIAL?

Devesh,

I do not know what you mean by more balanced criticism. Criticism should be honest and objective, even if it goes against my own family/friends? Right?

Why should my criticism be balance? Am I supposed to please AAI bosses? Am I supposed to be friendly with GOK, because we have a new dispension and they are above criticism. I hold no bar against any of the BIAL constituents.

By asking for balance criticism you are actually asking everybody on Praja to be diplomatic and not to be objective and honest in their opinion.

Boss, for me, Praja is not a political front so that it has to please everybody. Lets make Praja a truly different platform. Honest, Committed, Caring and always truthful.

Let me state what Praja's stand w.r.t BIAL should be:

• Find out the true facts about:
  • What was new airport supposed to be?
  • If it is not what it was supposed to be, then what went wrong?
  • Who is responsible for this?
  • How could this be rectified/corrected?
• Fix the responsibility who ever the culprit may - AAI, KSIIDC, MoCA, GOK or Brunner & Co.
• Pressure the authorities to make the culprits pay for their acts in BIAL

Let me know if this is not what we want? Let me know if this is the course we need to take? Let me know if this approach is indeed a non-partisan and more importantly it puts Bangalore at the front of all my interests.

Syed

I have one suggestion - can we arrange to meet Mr Brunner in person with our praja team.. and know what is his perspective on this? Just like we did with Mr Sood.

Atleast we will have a clear idea as to what Siemens thinks about BIA Phase 1 and future. Then we can arrange to meet AAI or MOCA if they are willing to spare time to be transparent. This will also give us insight into their thinking and in taking small steps to solve the menace BIA is headed towards.. well atleast its a hope.

Syed Sir, Devesh, bialterminal, SB?? any suggestions?

Agile works well on certain projects and does not fulfill needs of others.. be it waterfall or agile - lets make it successful should be our mantra.

SB,

 When I started writing that comment, I had thought of drawing Agile analogy. You know, being from Software Configuration Management domain all along, it is hard not to use these Jargons. But just to make it simple on praja delibertely dropped it.

 Syed 

Devesh, It really beats me why you want everyone in Praja to be "balanced" in our criticism towards non-BIAL parties when you have never been "balanced" criticizing BIAL. Seems like you are bit hesitant with Praja moving forward with the RTIs.

All the recent criticisms and accusations on BIAL has been based on this so called "AAI" report. Anyways coming to the AAI report itself, the existence of this has been floating for awhile now, but still no one knows the official version of this report (assuming it exists). There has been various versions (with some ridiculous data)  leaked to the media for over a month now. Why is the official version still not made public. To me , it looks like someone is leaking wrong anti-BIAL information to the media in a hope that public will start believing this misinformation, and when infact the truth really comes out, its just too late to change people perception on BIAL.

By filing RTI's  we can put an end to all these misinformation thats being leaked to the public. I think the anti-BIAL brigade have been using this rumoured AAI report /data and  have been taking people for a ride a little too long now. If you or anyone else have access to the report, then please make it public, because public is entitled to know the truth and not rumours coming from selected few

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1180186

I am unable to disclose too many details, and sometimes a cooperative approach is called for, in place of a confrontation (do we not practise this on Praja ?)

When I mean balanced, I do want us automatically labelling something bad just becuase it is government, and something good just becuase it is private. The coin has two sides, and while I will be the first to admit my frustrations at the bureaucracy and corruption in Government, like it or not, they are the powers to be, and we have to work the system to our advantage and to achieve our goals, and I am not focussing just BIAL.

I have organised a meeting tomorrow morning, between BMTC and AAI and BaCHAAL. I am trying to coax AAI in to allowing BMTC to use HAL as a hub, so that VV and Suvarna bus services become more effective, and if HAL airport re-opens in the future, a mass transport culture is already introduced at HAL.

I was reading an interesting article in today's Business Standard (page 2), about HIAL wanting to increase UDF due to"slow down", while at the same time, another story that AAI will invest Rs. 1800+ Cr., in expanding Chennai airport, without any budgetary support or UDF. Lest we forget, AAI also runs those wonderfully profitable airports with super high traffic, at Tirupati, Trichy, Aurangabad, Madurai, all over the North East, etc. AAI is not some hyper efficient organisation, but they must be doing something right for these kinds of financials.

In my humble opinion, Private sector shows its efficiency, best, when faced with competition. In a monopoly situation, private airports are not obligated to perform in a lean and efficient manner. Their profits are assured by a fixed ROI.

-----------------------

Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

Visit my aviation blog at http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com

Devesh,

I completely agree with bialterminal's comments. In addition find this statement even more surprising

'I was reading an interesting article in today's Business Standard (page 2), about HIAL wanting to increase UDF due to “slow down", while at the same time, another story that AAI will invest Rs. 1800+ Cr., in expanding Chennai airport, without any budgetary support or UDF. Lest we forget, AAI also runs those wonderfully profitable airports with super high traffic, at Tirupati, Trichy, Aurangabad, Madurai, all over the North East, etc. AAI is not some hyper efficient organization, but they must be doing something right for these kinds of financials.'

I'm surprised because I've heard you call yourself an entrepreneur and a capitalist. Do you honestly believe there is no UDF being paid for these 'expansion efforts' and 'wonderfully profitable airports'? How do you think the AAI is funded? Our taxes pay for that over funded, bloated, inefficient bureaucracy. In fact it’s much worse than collecting UDF, every taxpayer, whether an airport user or not pays and somehow you believe it is preferable!! This is the kind of thinking that drove the former Soviet Union to the poor house.

Taking about monopolies, the only thing worse than a private monopoly is a government funded monopoly.

--amaku

Came across this article in the economic times, not directly related to the subjet but at the same time it is!!

'My first two stops — Hyderabad and Bangalore — brought me to dazzling new airports built to international standards. ... seemed no worse to me than the time taken going from the JFK Airport to Manhattan or from Narita Airport to Tokyo. '

http://economictimes.indi...

--amaku

Sure, sure. I am laughing my head off remembering the days of private sector and licensing.

Those private sector monopolies or oligopolies who had the license were extremely efficient and well run. I do not know if you are old enough to remember the days when we had to make advance payment and wait 10~15 years for a Bajaj Super scooter. Of course, the price was of the company's choosing, since you did not have a choice.

I still remember the strings my father had to pull in order to get his 1964 booked Fiat by 1972.

No wonder all those wonderfully well run efficient companies were able to compete, without requiring tons of protection when India started liberalising.

BT, you worked for Boeing. Think back and compare efficiencies at Boeing, before Airbus became a competitor and after.

There was a reason why the US Supreme court ordered the break-up of AT&T in 1982. Even today, Microsoft, Intel, and other tech giants, in the most free economy are still regularly hauled up for abusive practices thanks to their (near) monopoly status.

Give me break. Puhlease.................................Wake up and smell the sunshine.

A monopoly is just that, a monopoly. It does not matter Government or Private. Any monopoly will abuse its position. To ensure honest performance and true value for money delivery of services and products, a competitive situation is a must.

Private sector has the rapid decision making ability and agility to survive in a competitive situation. Government, thanks to its bureaucracy, does not.  Sometimes, even the large private sector companies have the same problem.

Before firing back, please remember two points. 1. I am an extremely right wing person when it comes to the economic side of thing, and 2. my initial comment was that we should be balanced in our judgement be it private or government.

When it comes to private airports or public, I am in favour of two airports or more in all major metro cities in India. It is the only way to keep the operators honest, be they government or private.

-----------------------

Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

Visit my aviation blog at http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com

VVR,

Which airport did you take the picture at ?

check out this pictures of a major metro private airport. A shining example of "on-time" construction in record time.

http://picasaweb.google.c...

http://picasaweb.google.c...

http://picasaweb.google.c...

Incidentally, these are buildings meant to house the airlines offices and the cargo and customs agents' offices. Airlines have been given "temporary" offices in the BIAL building, and the cargo and customs agents work by the road side.

Let us demand the very best for ourselves. Be it a private or a public sector player. Let us take an honest and unbiased approach.

-----------------------

Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

Visit my aviation blog at http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com

Great story Amaku. Thanks for the link.

I put it on my blog with the following preface "As my final post for the month of July, I reproduce a touching example of the revolutionary change occurring within the aviation sector in India. Indian Airlines is 100% government owned, and has mended its ways thanks to the competition from private sector airlines. A similar revolution has already occurred at the state owned BSNL, who is competing head on with the private telecom providers, and all the state owned banks, who are competing with their private counterparts.

It is time the mandarins at Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan free NACIL (Air India and Indian Airlines) and the Airport Authority of India from their clutches. They will compete and effectively.

Devesh"

-----------------------

Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

Visit my aviation blog at http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com

"BT, I never claimed that AAI airports came for free. All the private airports, still collect the same Rs. 225 Passenger Service Fee (PSF), as AAI, and it is distributed the same way, as AAI. (Rs. 130 for CISF, Rs. 70 for the terminal operator).

The Rs. 500 FTT, has been dropped long ago, as was IATT (which went to GoI, not AAI). It is now universally Rs. 225 PSF for all flights. I have no problem with that. My statement was relating to the Rs. 1000 in ADDITION to the Rs. 225 being charged (or being demanded for) by the private airport operators.

Please refer to my post of SSC http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=20205344#post20205344

With regards to your post on SSC. I am in complete disagreement with you on Zone wise charges. A person using an airport should pay the same amount. I do not believe that a regional passenger demands or gets any more or less service compared to a trans-country passenger. "

Devesh, so from your statement above you agree that passenger was paying some form of fees for using the airport correct? That's the point and thanks for providing information confirming that fact and agreeing to it. The zone proposal was just an example. Feel free to propose an alternative one which you feel fit since people will not agree with one fees for all passengers (I am ok with that though). I was countering your statement " was reading an interesting article in today's Business Standard (page 2), about HIAL wanting to increase UDF due to “slow down", while at the same time, another story that AAI will invest Rs. 1800+ Cr., in expanding Chennai airport, without any budgetary support or UDF" and my point is not to get into a counter productive argument but to highlight the above fact that AAI did not spring up without passenger' s money being involved in some way; only that private airports call it UDF and AAI calls it differently (passenger service fees). And, yes, the issue of how much fees a any airport (private or govt. run) should charge is debatable and I am not kowledgeable enough to base it on scientific and mathematical facts. But, based on returns for the UDF I would pay I would pay just Rs. 130(CISF security fees) to use an airport like HAL because I do not find facilities proportional to even Rs 70 per passenger being delivered. And, yes, I feel that there should be one lumpsum fees as opposed -> to some UDF fees+the current Rs 225 that covers the cost of operating and developing the airport.

In private airports the UDF is in addition to the PSF. Also, why do we always fall back on HAL ? Let us go across to the IC terminals at DEL or BOM. Even the Chennai terminal, while not great, was pretty decent. The operator is getting only Rs. 70 per departing passenger.

Sorry, I do not see ANYTHING additional facilities in BIAL airport that justifies Rs. 1000 when all other airports charge nothing (Rs. 225 PSF excluded which BIAL also gets a share of).

I think this thread is about potential abuse in mega PPP projects, and I agree with BT that no point discussing on off thread topic.

Swinging the thread back to topic, the best safeguard against against possible abuse is competition. Public vigilance is something we have come together to do at Praja, out of passion and love for Bangalore. We all have full time jobs to do. We cannot be doing this for the rest of our lives.

Just as an example of potential abuse. All along BIAL has been talking about a 7 year pay back for Phase 1 of this project. Suddenly in the last 2 months, it has been reduced to 5 years. The tool to achieve this -- UDF, on our backs.

We need to do what is already happening in the airline, telecom and banking sectors. Competion has made Indian, BSNL, and all the state owned banks leaner and meaner. In airline, Indian has suffered due to the constant intrusion of Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan. In telecom, try as hard as they can, the private telcos are not able to match BSNL in wireline, in banking, I would call it even.

However, in all cases, both the private and public sector companies have to innovate and offer VFM service which is beneficial to the consumer, and ultimately the companies themselves as the lower costs grows the markets.

-----------------------

Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

Visit my aviation blog at http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com

And my friends, those who are talking about competition...give me a break...if there was real competition Air India would have disappeared long ago if it wasn't state supported.

I suggest you get your history correct. AI was one of the most profitable airlines in the world till government interference really commenced in full earnest in the late '70s onwards. The Raj of Indira Gandhi's sycophants. You worked at Boeing. Please check the history of the 747. AI was one of the earliest customers. It was profitable enough to venture on to the 747. Air India was pushed on to government dole becuase of government interference and politicians using it as a cash cow during procurement and as an employment cow for pleasing their constituents.

Devesh, proponent of competition, I have not heard from you about what you feel about having HAL and BIA thrown open to 2 different private consortiums 100% private with 0 govt. participation and no regulations of destinations/aircraft whatsoever in both places plus starting with a demolished terminal at HAL (to grant a level playing field);

First read the AAI annual report, it is a self sustaining organisation just like any company, and then read the opening para of my blog story http://aviation.deveshaga.... I have called for the corporatisation of AAI. Then read some of my posts here on Praja, as well as my newspaper quotes. I have proposed a partnership at HAL airport. Should AAI not arrive at any partnership, I am equally happy with an AAI run terminal. In Bangalore, I have seen their efficiencies and their grit, handling traffic far more than the terminal could handle. I know the inside story. All is not what it appears. Those who want to sit down with me this weekend, I will take time. Lets meet.

Let us reach a sustainable level of traffic first to make use of one airport, develop it to the fullest extent possible to maximum efficiency with good road & rail infrastructure.

And I love it when someone talks about the "sustainable traffic" story. Mr. Brunner always like to quote New York and its 100 million passengers to justify multiple airports. Just for your information and his, NYC had 3 airports when the traffic was only 4 million. They have grown TOGETHER to reach 100 million today. What in your mind is sustainable ? Look at this graph http://picasaweb.google.c....

At a time when money is in short supply, is there really a need for us to spend 5000+ Cr for a rail link to BIAL, especially when he is not willing to part with one iota of land for road connectivity ?

Yes, SH-104 from ORR runs parallel to NH7 till Bagalur. This is one of the roads the government has spent 1600 Cr on improving. SH104 touches the south end of the airport, but BIAL will not let it come in to the airport, as valuable real estate land will be lost.

They even had the gall to demand 25% of the VV ticket fees from BMTC as their "permission fees". BMTC agreed to give them whatever they demanded, but would print it on their ticket. BIAL promptly dropped the demand, and also all cooperation. Now they will not even give a chair to BMTC inside the terminal for them to offer their bus brochures to passengers. They do not clean the bus stand (while they clean the parking lot all around it). BMTC sends a cleaning crew every morning, along with drinking water for the day. YES!!!!! BIAL does not even offer drinking water to the BMTC crew.

-----------------------

Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

Visit my aviation blog at http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com

Devesh,

THE FACT OF THE DAY = TODAY = AI is the least preferred airline by Indians & Foreigners; by international travelers globally & domestic travelllers; it is basically the last choice. I suggest YOU get your history straight that AI was started by Tata and was really doing good after which it has been dowhill. 

"NYC had 3 airports when the traffic was only 4 million. They have grown TOGETHER to reach 100 million today."

I had heard this argument before and had not responded due to the utter foolishness of that argument but :-) -> FYI......that was some 50 odd years ago when airspace management technology & procedures plus aircraft capabilities(avionics,climb performance etc.) were not like what they are today.  Give everybody a break..that way I can argue New York, LA etc. had good streets & freeways in the 50s!!! whereas our good old Bangalore and major cities are light years away from that in the 21st century. Nowadays, even an extra runway let alone an airport is really hard to justify in a lot of cities where efficiency and maximum utilization are being pushed for. Do we want to go the route of look NY & London have 3 or 4 airport each so why can't we as opposed to look how much traffic efficiency they can achieve so let's do that? Or, is it that hey, let's use every trick in the book to get HAL opened because ..I find the other airport too far? With that logic the LA area alone will need about 10 airports :-) one being dedicated exclusively to disney land. Hey friends- flash news - we are in the 1950s :-) in India let's build airports that are near enough to drive but far enough to be away from the hassles of one THEN subsequently let's call them "congested" following which we will have a convenient excuse to blame air space congestion on multiple airports.

I never said that there never should not be multiple airports in Bangalore or other Indian cities. Let's get one running to full potential first; let's get THAT right first. Let's allow one to open and run fine first; Let's get the supporting infrastructure right first. Let's get the flip-flopping aviation policy right first.

Regarding your question " What in your mind is sustainable ?" Well, I am not talking just about profits from running an airport, airports are huge investments and consume a lot of resources and affect the local population where they are built as well (both positively and negatively..the negative aspect often forgotten). So taking a balanced approach and looking at the big picture where we need to ensure that a new airport (in this case BIA) needs to develop to the fullest extent with ability to handle traffic comparable to single or 2 runway airports here is what I think it should be ->
http://www.praja.in/bangalore/blog/devesh/2008/07/14/fuel-populism-killing-air-traffic#comment-6533 [I am still waiting for your response to that], I am requesting a resonse from you in the true spirit versus "no, the rules are different and the calculations I(Devesh) am making are as per DGCA rules which is not possible to change". I am requesting a response in the true spirit of what you feel it takes to  make that kind of traffic possible vs giving reasons like - look they have a different aircraft mix, they have mostly internatinal traffic, look they have competition (Seattle does not have 2 commercial airports)..and a 100 other reasons why that cannot be achieved and then ending up with the line ...so henceforth Bangalore needs HAL.

Devesh,

On one side you keep complaining about connectivity problems to BIAL and how people and industries in electronic city are being affected. And when Govt is solving this very connectivity problem with rail link, you seem to be opposing it.

Same with BIAL expansion, you keep complaining that BIAL needs immediate expansion, but don't say anything when open-HAL brigade file petition to prevent BIAL from expansion.

Sorry to say this but I can't understand what your and open-HAL brigade's real motives are? Is it anti-BIAL, or anti-Privatisation or just open HAL at any cost?

" Now they will not even give a chair to BMTC inside the terminal for them to offer their bus brochures to passengers. They do not clean the bus stand (while they clean the parking lot all around it). BMTC sends a cleaning crew every morning, along with drinking water for the day. YES!!!!! BIAL does not even offer drinking water to the BMTC crew. "

Devesh, I agree. Facilities within BIA need to be clean which includes BMTC parking bays too. I am not sure if this has happened after the July 7th to July 13th week because that is when my wife used BIA and she was impressed and thankful for the BMTC facilities (including staff being helpful, cleanliness & safety). But, if things are not like that anymore then definitely please bring that to BIA's attention as it needs to be corrected. Guys, does anybody else have similar complaints about lack of cleanliness at BMTC bus stands in BIA?

Regarding water supply and chairs I think this necessitates building a good ground transportation center with adequate rest facilities. Do you know if eatery joints already exist or are planned outside the terminal? BMTC drivers can perhaps show a BMTC driver id and procure food & water at discounted rates. 

Instead of spendng 5000+ cr on rail link which may or may not be used since all the localities are connected by BMTC volvos / zoom airport express, it is not a viable solution.

Add 5,000 volvos to BMTC to serve the entire city using the same amount. Take 500 of them to connect all the localities and gullies of Bangalore to BIAL with BIAS route number upto 500+.

If this has to be done, a BOT operator should be called. Government should not use our tax paid money to BIAL. I hardly travel once in a year in plane, why should my tax paid money goto unused service?

A Metro on the other hand to Yelahanka would be a wise option which serves everyone..

Guys, I am unable to participate fully in Praja responding to each person's views. It is consuming too much of my time, and at this point, I am overloaded with work.

There is much I can learn from members, and in return convey my view point, and hopefully arrive at a consensus somewhere.

I am willing to meet any number of Praja members over the weekend. Sat or Sun. I will be happy to host the meeting at my office in Koramangala, or willing to meet at any other location convenient to meeting attendees.

Please PM me if interested or send me a mail at devesh at the rate of deveshagarwal dot com.

-----------------------

Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

Visit my aviation blog at http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com

Few weeks back during Siemens' upper mgmt town hall mtg regarding company's direction for FY'09 , BIAL was very briefy mentioned, it was something like " After the opening of the airport, there has been lot of uncertainty about the longevity of the project "

I was'nt sure what he meant, but automatically presumed something related to ecconomic slowdown, but now it appears he was talking about this.

http://www.deccanherald.c...

Looks like Govt wants to take over BIA, Is it legally possible for Govt to pull this off?

No wonder BIAL is hesitant to invest more. Frankly speaking, I don't see any reason why BIAL should invest a single penny more on the airport until these uncertainties are settled. Would we invest more money onto our house, if we know that the bank is planning to reposses our property. Hell No!

Sure we can, this is how its done;

1. Even before BIA is opened, start spreading the news that airport is too far, takes 3 hours to reach the airport, etc, so HAL must be re-opened

2. Once public starts realising that connectivity issue in reality is an exagerration,  start complaining about the capacity of the airport, so HAL must be re-opened

3. When BIAL revealed about their expansion plans, immediately file petition to prevent them from expansion and at the same time complain publicly that BIA does'nt want to expand, so once again HAL must be re-opened

4. Then start propogating into the media that BIA itself is below international standards, airlines are suffering, passengers are suffering,etc

5. Enrage public by constantly feeding stories that BIAL is here to loot public because its a private company. At the same time make clear to the public that private companies like GMR is an exception because its an Indian company, but BIAL cannot be trusted as it is a foriegn company, so HAL must be re-opened to prevent BIAL from becoming a large airport

6. Now, when media and public have picked the above propoganda, start threatening BIAL with cancelling or to re-negotiate the contract using a newly created loop hole law.

7. Hopefully by this time, BIAL is getting frustrated with all these and public is also equally enraged by believing these misinformation . Now go to BIAL with an offer to buy them out .

There you go, now AAI have taken over BIA, we chased the British out of India, so chasing BIAL out is a cakewalk

Hi Burnner, Santsub, and others,

If the 7 points above are true then why not Praja inform Bangalore's praja what the real story is?.

What's the use of meeting BIAL CEO Brunner and finding out the truth - if even after determining the truth the citizens are still in the dark about all that?. Shouldnt the exercise be followed up to its logical end?. Would it be possible to create an awareness campaign to share the truth(whatever that may be) with the common public?. There needs to be a mechanism(a weekly Praja publication or whatever) by means of which Praja is well known to all the public and people are aware of what Praja's views are regarding all citizens's issues. The common man should know Praja is a people's organization by the public, of the public and for the public.

Regards.

SS, instead of Mr. Brunner, may I propose meeting Mr. Marcel Hungerbuehler. He is the Chief OPERATIONS Officer, and in my dealings with him, I have found him to be engaging, very practical, and open.

-----------------------

Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

Visit my aviation blog at http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com

A simple answer is yes.

Two parts of the Concession Agreement come to mind.

First the license. This is renewed every two years. 

7.6 Licence
7.6.1 Grant of Licence
GOI shall use its good offices and assist BIAL for DGCA’s grant of an airport licence to BIAL initially valid for a period of two years to enable it to commence commercial operation no later than forty-five (45) days from the date of its application to DGCA, provided that BIAL shall have completed construction of the Airport in accordance with the terms of this Agreement and shall have complied with (i) the requirements of Rule 86 and Section A of Schedule V of the Aircraft Rules 1937, (ii) any special directions or guidelines issued by DGCA pursuant to Rule 133A of the Aircraft Rules 1937 and (iii) any other standard requirement of DGCA in connection with the issuance of an airport licence for a Major Airport.
7.6.2 Continuing Licence
Subsequent to the issue of airport licence under Article 7.6.1 above, GOI shall use its good offices and assist BIAL for DGCA’s renewal of said airport licence issued to BIAL for a further period of two years prior to the expiry of the airport licence issued for the immediately preceding two year period, no later than forty-five (45) days from the date of BIAL’s application to DGCA, provided that BIAL continues to comply in all material respects with (i) Applicable Law and the Aircraft Rules 1937, (ii) any special directions or guidelines issued by DGCA pursuant to Rule 133A of the Aircraft Rules 1937, (iii) the provisions of this Agreement and (iv) any other standard requirement of DGCA in connection with the issuance of an airport licence for a Major Airport (including the payment of all past dues owed to DGCA in connection with such licence) and provided that there are no outstanding breaches by BIAL under the current licence.

Article 9 of the CA deals with monitoring and performance of BIAL.

Article 13 deals with the termination of the agreement. 

One relevant part is :

13.5 Transfer of Airport
13.5.1 On exercise of a right of termination by GoI or BIAL under Article 13.4 of this Agreement, and without prejudice to any rights of BIAL to compensation all assets of BIAL shall be transferred to GoI or its nominee on the Transfer Date without payment (save for payment of the amounts specified in Article 13.4.1 or Article 13.4.2 as the case may be) and ...................

The CA can be terminated at the request of BIAL or GoI; Or for a BIAL default or GoI default.; or a Force Maejure. In all cases, the airport reverts to GoI or its nominee.

The CA is available for download from http://civilaviation.nic.in website.

-----------------------

Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

Visit my aviation blog at http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com

 Pls correct me if I am wrong. From the post it seems, GOI can take control of the BIAL at any time? If that's the case what about the arguements of 60 years/ownership in perpetuity/no exit clauses? 

 With regards to Probe by legislature committee, is the probe balance in investigating  only the airport amenities? Shouldn't the probe include all aspects of shortcomings including unfinshed roads/intersections/ped crossings?

It really does'nt matter, our govt is capable of completly negating this BIAL contract, even if it means creating a new law in the spur of the moment or by proving a blatant lie to be a fact.

With all the recent bribery scandal going on at Seimens, they will not even think about giving more money to our politicians and ofcourse politicians will not move their fingers until their pockets are filled up. To me, seeing BIAL running our airport around next year timeframe looks grim.  This entire situation leaves a bad taste in the mouth of a foreign investor and common man like myself.

Just my 2 cents!

Narayan82,

I completely agree with you. I have a really bad feeling that HAL will be reopened, and our wonderful AAI will take over BIAL, no connectivity improvements -- nothing.

Mcadambi,

I don't for a moment believe MNCs don't make mistakes, my point in the entire BIAL saga has been:

• Siemens has been played by the master politicians, corruption, bribes etc. has left them way short of funds to even complete phase 1. GMR on the other hand were either lucky or more likely, much smarter and adept at navigating the political waters.
• I find it laughable when people hold up AAI or any govt. agency anywhere in the world as a model of effeciency. I would have no problem at all if BIAL ended up in the hands of any other private entity. This entire 'reopen HAL' campaign has hidden agendas and so called 'facts' thrown up are all phony or irrelevant.

The bottom line on government for me is this 'one deserves the government one elects' and on this score the people of Karnataka, unfortunately have gone from bad to worse, don't know about the latest one we've elected so I won't include them in this.

I know that large portions (more than 50% in many cases) of project budgets end up in politicians pockets and in many cases it is not even accompanied by the pretense of starting work on them.

I firmly believe govt. organizations are by their very nature set up to be fiefdoms and effeciency is not ever a factor or objective in their creation.

-amaku

"It is there for all to see how incompetent the so called "western" MNCs such as Siemens and Zurich Airports are. "

" The proof is there for us to see when this so called German-Swiss combo could not even fix the leaks in the customs of BIAL"

Please use just "BIAL" in your discussions. No need to make inflammatory comments on entire "western", "german" & "swiss" countries/people by generalizing.  Your argument is about BIAL, so let it be just BIAL. I'm sure you can get your point across with out using any biggitry tones.

Pls correct me if I am wrong. From the post it seems, GOI can take control of the BIAL at any time?

Syed, please see my post http://praja.in/bangalore.... BIAL airport reverts to GoI or its nominee, in the event of a default. So the 60 year argument does hold water.

-----------------------

Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

Visit my aviation blog at http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com

Dear Prajagale

Let us please focus back on the subject of this thread. What steps do you propose to prevent corruption in large PPPs.

-----------------------

Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

Visit my aviation blog at http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com

[it will be nicer for us all if people stuck to the topics on these threads. There are plenty of discussions on HAL vs BIAL or BIAL, plus, you can always create your own if you have something new to add]

Does anyone have the latest news on a PIL which asked for BIAL to be brought under RTI? I remember that High Courts had either ruled favorably or had orderd that BIAL be covered under RTI. Ad then, BIAL must have appealed. Whats the latest?

Would I be right in saying that PPP gather controversy during the planning and investment phase. That is where pro-active transparency is required. I would say that it should be the responsibility of the PPP (I mean the venture, BIAL in this case) to pro-actively place all the documents it exchanges with the government authorities in open public domain. Penalizing government bodies for being lax in "pro-active disclosure" is a bit tough to implement - they have so much information to share, one can't really set the boundaries for what should be disclosed pro-actively. But in case of PPPs, the focus is so much narrower. every interaction you have with the government, period. And any violation should be penalized (but how? - reduced stake in PPP? Public service of X days? increased allocation in CSR funds?)

Please don't bring your ignorant racist biases here, there is about BIAL, no need to make this about Indians vs Germans, Indians vs Swiss, or India vs west. 

And FYI... The GMR led consortium which built HIAL also includes Malaysian Airports Holding Berhad (MAHB), so please check your facts right

 As with any project and venture, PPP projects also can be a failure if it is not executed properly. In this respect Public partner carries the greater responsibility in ensuring that the PPP projects deliver the outcome that is in line with expectations and cost. As with any other model, PPP has also some pitfalls that needs to be taken care of for making the PPP project a success.

1. Poor Setup - Flaws in initial PPP design, legislation and guidance. A common mistake is placing so many restrictions, conditions and expectations of risk transfer on private partner that would make a financially sound deal becomes impossible to structure.
2. Lack of clarity on Project Objectives - Lack of consensus on project purposes and expected outcomes. Govt often tries to compensate for this failure with overspecifying inputs.
3. Too much focus on the transaction - Governments tries to focus more on financing part rather than operational focus.
4. Application of inappropriate risk model - A common risk is amount of use the infrastructure will receive, to the private sector even when contractors has no control over demand factors.
5. Lack of internal capacity - Common failure is public/government's failure to sufficiently oversee the project-implementation.
6. Failure to Realize value for money - Governments fails to understand the value of money being invested, specially in borrowing and tendering cost.
7. Inadequate Planning - Governments failure to take proper account of the market in the planning phase.

  
 Syed

The facts are there on the internet to see. For me it does not matter whether a cat is black or white, unless it can catch mice. There are mice running in the Customs and Toilets of BIAL. Enuf said. Whether you use German mouse traps or Malaysian mouse traps - the objective was to catch mice. Mr Brunner and co have failed. Lets accept that. This is the FACT.

They have messed up cargo to such a extent that i really do not want to waste my time blogging on it. So much for their professionalism or dedication. It just looks like they were in a hurry to make a quick buck.

I read that Mr Vivek Kulkarni, ex IT secretary of GoK has filed a PIL in the Supreme Court about the CA agreement in light of the MRTP Act. I sincerely pray that the Supreme Court invalidates the CA.

Hundreds of MNCs function in India and not many blame corruption for their bad quality. IBM has been providing good quality for Airtel and no one complains.

It is the most lame excuse i have seen from BIAL blaming GoK for the former's incompetency.

How I wish the IATA survey on BIAL could have been done in this year itself!

If indeed as you claim that the GoK was hostile to the promoters of BIAL, then why not agree to be transparent?

YSR's Govt was certainly not a mai-baap sarkar role to GMR. One cannot expect GoK to play the role of mai-baap for BIAL.  

Siemens/Zurich/L&T got the CA reviewed twice on their calling and now when the GoK was even willing to offer HAL to the former, then why not take it up?

But I agree to what you said about the Siemens led consortium wanting to minimise financial losses. They did manage to keep costs low - by sacrificing quality as we all know it.

The difference now is that they want to make a quick buck.

Guys, the core of the issue is very simple.

Bangalore air traffic grew 255% in the 3 years BIAL was constructing the airport. The original terminal design for wasonly 4.5 milllion passenger, later downgraded to 3.8 million. Between Apr 05 and Apr 08air traffic went from 4.1 million to 10.2 million.

Firstly this level of growth is simply not anticipated, let alone be planned, or even less, catered for. Rs. 380Cr is simply not enough seed money, and BIAL ran out of funds needed to make the much needed expansion. Check out my article http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com/2008/05/history-of-passenger-terminal-at-bial.html. 

This has led to compromises and an over-dependence on income and UDF from day 1.

We can all over the place, but the bottom line is simple.........It's all about the money, honey. :)

Which is why we at Praja should do all we can to get to the books of accounts of BIAL. Understand the money trail.

-----------------------

Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

Visit my aviation blog at http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com

Devesh,

You are absolutely correct. As of today, BIAL is not under RTI obligation. Karnataka high court has overruled the earlier ruling of KIC which gave a ruling that BIAL is covered under RTI. It seems it is a long drawn battle from both sides.

It is very interesting, at one end people are demanding BIAL to be brought under RTI obligations. At the same time, there are people demanding BIAL's CA to scrapped under MRTPC act. So far none of these efforts have succeeded. Coming months should settle these issues in Supreme Court. To me both the issues are NOT mutually exclusive.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/MRTPC_dismisses_petition_on_BIALs_monopoly_issue/articleshow/3228014.cms

P.S. I am for BIAL to be in RTI net. It is a lesson for Governments to introduce the transparency and RTI obligation on all the upcoming PPP projects.

Syed

Syed,

I don't hold out much hope of ever being able to get to the bottom of this mess. I think we, the people, deserve nothing less than the absolute truth. Like always, the truth will only emerge if we can follow the money. My reasons for the pessimism are:

• BIAL management will fight tooth & nail against this for the simple reason that they have paid huge sums as donations,bribes, etc. which is clearly against the law. The managers and folks in charge definitely face conviction and incarceration in their own countries, even if not in India, for at a minimum, encouraging and/or engaging in corrupt practices
• The beneficiaries of this corruption "our own fearless leaders" have no interest in the truth or transparency. They are in the enviable position today of "having their cake and eating it too" given that they can make maximum political hay with the current situation.

The independance of our judiciary, outside of the highest levels, is suspect at best. My suspicion is that any effort to get at the truth will be scuttled before it can get anywhere.

Unfortunately we in India do not have the kind of prosecutors who are empowered to and will make the deals (plea bargains, etc.) to be able to go after the big fish in the interest of the greater good (the taxpayer).

Forgive my pessimism and don't get me wrong, I applaud your effort and nothing will make me happier than if I'm proved wrong and the truth is laid bare for all to see.

--amaku

 I just wanted everybody to be cautious that using Right to Information (RTI) act need not get desired information fully and complete. RTI will not make everything transparent. RTI should not be taken as synonym for in-built transparency processes. In other words, RTI is not the Panacea for transparency in public interest projects.

It is a good tool to gather info from government and its agencies. People have benefited from it.

 According to me, use of RTI is still going thru its infant stages. We need to continously use it to make it a well oiled & run machine.

 We should also be proud of our democracy that is maturing everyday to provide the tools like RTI. 

Syed 

http://www.deccanherald.c...

My comments: 

What a delightful development! BIAL has been censured time and again and even requested to operate in HAL. Now, a situation might arise when GoK might rescind the CA with BIAL.

It is not too late for BIAL to see wisdom. The bloated egos of their management fail to look beyond enriching their pockets with expat pay packages. If only some were reading this!

From the article: 

"Disclosing that the State government would “negotiate” with BIAL on setting right the lapses in the construction and modifying the MoU to provide for retaining HAL airport, the minister said central intervention would be sought if the BIAL refused to concede to the demands.

“The government is firm on its stand on rectifying the lapses in construction. We would terminate the agreement with BIAL and entrust the work on expanding the airport to a different company if the latter fails to set-right the lapses,” the minister affirmed."

One thing all our representatives are good at is talk.  In the three years that the airport was under construction not one step was taken on connectivity.  Not one light was put on NH-7.  Not one flyover was built on NH7 at critical junctions.  In that BIAL finished an airport despite all the hurdles thrown in.

Yet the MPs have the audacity to call BIAL a bus-stand, etc.  They need to have their heads and eyes examined. 

Frankly, I dont know what the fuss is all about.  I am a frequent user of the airport.  I am very satisfied with the operational efficiency there.  Yes, it could have been 10,000 m2 bigger.  But each time I fly, I find the check-in queues smaller and the number of vacant seats more. 

The airline industry is going to look quite different - this from the mouths of BA and Cathay CEOs and not from me.  They are all struggling for a business model for oil prices @USD100+.  In this uncertain period, no one will make investments in a hurry.  I am sure BIAL is evaluating traffic scenarios to assess realistic growths (255% in 3 years is not sustainable).  If I give free seats away, it does not take much effort to fill a plane.

Best of luck to Brunner.

Srivathsa

From the news it seems, government is admitting to the fact it didn't do a good job in BIAL project. Better late than never.

For all these years since the airport construction started, no politician ever commented or showed any concern on the quality of constructions of airport and amenities its going to provide. Looks like better sense is prevailing on the government to protect its asset. Even now it is not too late to make up for the lost oppurtunity.

GOk has a golden oppurtunity to rectify/correct its acts by actively involving itself in the project in ensuring that airport is indeed an asset and a landmark in the land of Karnataka. They still have time to deliver that promise of good connectivity. Rhetorics need not end just with "open HAL" promise.

mcdambi,

I have a question about this line from your post ->

Much fireworks would not have taken place if BIAL chose to operate some flights out of HAL. In any case, a lot of passengers who used to travel to Chennai and Hyderabad from HAL do not do it nowadays. It is these passengers who might come back resulting in a net increase in air traffic when BIAL + HAL operate tandem.

question - 

Then, all the issues being raised about connectivity, water leaks in ATC, peak hour passenger capacity, so called upcoming temporary tents, factory look, the "monopoly" issue, the ever contentious 150 km issue and the CA having been to BIAL's advantage and the pro HAL lobby claiming that the agreement is "not written in stone/concrete" (the list can go on to pick out the faults if we want to) ..are "fireworks" that were a farce? They were not really issues and would not have been raised if the pro HAL lobby was satisfied by HAL being kept open? Just goes to show that the numerous accusations and issues being raised about the new airport do not hold up.

And for those who have been stating ->  "do not give me that the agreement (CA) is invoilable"..."the agreement is not written in stone/concrete"..... the past few posts have proved beyond doubt how difficult it is to make an agreement stick & that the government can do pretty much what it wants based on politics..pretty much scrapping the agreement based on a fault finding mission. I do not want to tell you I told you so :-) I will be the least surprised to see HAL reopen. The sad part is that the reopening is not based on sane facts but  just on whims & fancies for which certain individuals/entities may go as far as to even blame the weather in Devanahalli.

"If they had agreed to operate out of HAL, then a lot of criticisms would have not surfaced in the first place."

You are absolutely right. All the criticism thrown at BIAL are complete BS, only to get HAL open.

Evidently all the BIAL bashing are simply in-your-face lies to distort people's views on BIAL. Afterall, our new govt's election pitch was "elect us, we will re-open HAL". To me it looks like the govt is holding BIAL hostage

Hi Syed

I can approach BIAL for a meeting. For that I will need to know the agenda for the meeting, the reason, and composition of the delegation.

-----------------------

Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

Visit my aviation blog at http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com

Srivathsa

In the three years that the airport was under construction not one step was taken on connectivity.  Not one light was put on NH-7.  Not one flyover was built on NH7 at critical junctions.

Again digressing from the subject of this thread, I partially disagree with you. NH7 was expanded from 2 lanes to 6. The fact that it was done a while back, has made it disappear from our memories.

Yes, I fully concur with you about flyovers. Traffic lights are not a panacea for a lack of pedestrian cross-overs be they under or over.

It is ironic that the BBMP and GoK have spent over 1600 crores  on road improvements on roads to the airport and making the road signal free, and now want to put in signals on a HIGHWAY to restrict flow of traffic.

Cooperation from BIAL is significantly lacking. SH104 (via Bagalur) is completed till the southern boundary of BIAL, but BIAL does not want to part with any its land to allow connectivity.

In that BIAL finished an airport despite all the hurdles thrown in 

Once the CA was signed, and BIAL achieved its financial closure, I am unable to ascertain what hurdles did you see being put in the way of BIAL, other than the trumpet ?

The BIAL project was completely within BIAL's control. Partially constructing an airport within 3 years is no rocket science. Sobha, routinely, puts up buildings for Infosys within 9 months. BIAL is still not fully constructed. Many buildings required for operations are not ready even today. The airlines offices, the crew offices, the air cargo and customs agents offices. On the airside also, there are significant shortcomings, especially on the service road which is hampering flow of cargo traffic.

I repeat my often said statement, an airport is much much more than a decent terminal building. As individuals we are over focussing on the terminal, and loosing sight of the operational efficiencies that BIAL was supposed to bring, especially in the area of cargo.

HAL's two cargo concessionaires MSIL and JWG were pathetic at best. But even with their miserable track record, cargo dwell time was 2 days. At BIAL it has increased to 3.5 days. As an SCM professional you will appreciate how this negatively impacts not just your company but India's productivity and competitiveness as a whole. It is also having its impact on BIAL since both cargo terminals are already saturating with imports while exports side is lying under-utilised.

BIAL is an "okay" airport, definitely superior to HAL on the terminal side, but let us not denude ourselves in to thinking it is a "world class" one. During my trip last week, I experienced the over-crowded restrooms at BIAL arrival, and saw that they is still no seating provision outside the terminal doors. It is hard to accept this level of work from a professional and well experienced organisation like Zurich Airport.

-----------------------

Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

Visit my aviation blog at http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com

"If they had agreed to operate out of HAL, then a lot of criticisms would have not surfaced in the first place." 

What temerity on the part of BIAL to turn down our offer. We should definitely rescind our offer to them to manage our world-class bus stands without another thought. 

"In any case, a lot of passengers who used to travel to Chennai and Hyderabad from HAL do not do it nowadays. It is these passengers who might come back resulting in a net increase in air traffic when BIAL + HAL operate tandem"

Right, not only the passengers customarily flying between Bangalore and Chennai/Hyderabad but also between many more short haul city pairs that had forsaken air travel will return to traveling by air once HAL reopens. As you know, it has been reported that short haul passenger number have fallen all across the country ever since late May when  BIAL opened. In other words, reopening HAL will be a bonanza not only for BIAL but for all airports around te country.

“All of this boils down to accessibility and competition. I get to choose which mobile operator i want and even within two months from now, there will be Mobile Number Portability - increasing the competition between operators. Why can't i choose my airports?”

Completely agree. In a free market UTOPIA like Bangalore, we just have to break such a monopoly. Yes, we should be able to choose our airports. If the North can have BIAL, the south HAL, we in the east should have our RRAL (Ring Road Airport Limited) that many here in this very forum have been asking for repeatedly.

Since we are on a roll here. Why can’t I choose which electric company I get electricity from for the 10 hours or so a day that we do get electricity; why can’t I choose which water supply company that I get my contaminated water from; why can't I choose the garbage company to not  collect garbage from my street. The possibilities are endless. Oh, by the way, when we break the backs of these monopolies, will someone help me break the Presswallah cartel that operates in my neighborhood. Speaking of cartels, I heard a wild allegation the other day that there is a flyover-building cartel operating in Bangalore – nah, not possible, not in Bangalore.

“When BIAL is harming the economic interests of Bengaluru - there are forces that will retaliate where they have to. All is fair in love and war honey!”

Totally agree although I do not think I would have been able to summarize this as succinctly. When our economic interests are threatened we will fight back. We have been watching passively  all these days as the cost of doing business in Bangalore has gone up steadily -- it is expensive and hard to find international flights in and out of the city, due to the paucity of hotel rooms even sub-standard hotel rooms in the city go for between 200-300 USD/day, we are becoming less competitive in the IT business due to the fact that our programmers stuck in the perpetual traffic jams were becoming far less productive. Then there is the abysmal state of our infrastructure that causes businesses to think twice before investing etc. etc. Let us see, I have not even listed corruption -- you have to bribe somebody even to register a business.

On top of all this, BIAL has decided to put the airport out in the boondocks that requires a 150 rupee bus ride and made this foolish decision to charge each departing passenger a UDF of 25USD and thereby bring the whole economy of the city to its knees. That is it -- we will not take it any more. This is the proverbial straw that broke our patience.     

Devesh,

Thought I will jump in and frolic in this massively OT discussion...

"Again digressing from the subject of this thread, I partially disagree with you. NH7 was expanded from 2 lanes to 6. The fact that it was done a while back, has made it disappear from our memories"

The expansion of NH7 was part of the GQ/NSEW program of NHAI and had nothing to do with the airport. This program was launched and was well underway while the airport was still mired in controversy. It is not as if this was a part of some largesse from the state to the citizens and BIAL. The part that GoK was responsible for is the final link from NH7 to the airport. We all what happened to that. Connectivity, while it was reasonable all along (with a few sections within the city that needed  be taken care of) was made into a bugbear by some folks and fingers were pointed at BIAL. 

VVR

Please see the statement I was responding to. It was that Government has done nothing about NH7. Whether the expansion of NH7 was done as part of Golden Quadrilateral or airport, should not matter. If you recall, while I highlighted the concern about connectivity back in 2006, I have always believed that connectivity while not good, is, by and large, acceptable.

The impact on the city traffic is another matter. At the press conference, ORSI indicated that peak hour traffic in central Bangalore will increase over 200% overnight , and that has happened.

See the amount of resources (land and concession aside) that government has dedicated to BIAL airport. 1600 Cr on road improvements, VV service, umpteen policemen, BBMP on a war path. Just imagine, if even 1/10th of this effort was spent 5 years ago for the benefit of airport road, BMTC buses to HAL, etc. When people accuse the government of shafting BIAL, I ask them to compare how much has been spent for BIAL and then go back just 5 years and compare what was done for HAL. There is a saying in Hindi. Ghar ki Murgi Bahar ki Dal barabi. (A chicken cooked at home is equal to Dal at the restaurant). Time to get out of the coolie mentality, the colonists have gone 60 years ago. White does not automatically mean right.

I highlight a misconception. When we say BIAL, WHO do we mean ? GoK is part of BIAL. How can a company disassociate itself from its own shareholder and Board of Directors ?  After all Principal Secy Infrastructure, Mr. VP Baligar and Chief Secretary Mr. Sudhakar Rao are members of BIAL Board. I know them both to be very capable officers.

For the future, we are discussing the rail link in another thread. Who should bear the cost of the rail link ? In my humble opinion, it certainly should not be the general public. It should be airport and airport city users. But then is the train designed for the workers at the upcoming airport city ?

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Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

Visit my aviation blog at http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com