Promoters: Siemens-Zurich Airport-L&T consortium, Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Karnataka State Investment and Industrial Development Corporation [KSIIDC].
The cost of the project will be $230 million [it was lowered by $20 million]. The state will be pitching in $80 million [instead of $95 million]
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will contribute 13% equity in the proposed Bangalore International Airport [BIAL] and will be the main consultant for the multi-crore project. This was finalized at a meeting between the officials of the Karnataka government and the Civil Aviation Ministry in Delhi. Karnataka Industrial Development Corporation will have 13% stake in the project.
Some of the actively involved people in this prestigious project were,
- Albert Brunner, CEO, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL)[Albert is no longer the CEO]
- Chief Secretary of Karnataka
- B.K. Das, Infrastructure Secretary
To avoid any further delay in the financial closure for the Bangalore International Airport, it was decided in Sept-Oct 2002 to raise funds from Indian financial institutions itself. Hence, most of the funding for the Rs 1,150 crore project is expected to come from Indian FIs itself. One of the main reasons why a foreign investor would shy away from this project is because AAI controls all airports in India. A bill in the parliament is yet to be amended which would take the private Bangalore International Airport out of the pruview of AAI. Until the law is amended, AAI will control all user charges, including airline charges. So the funding will look something like (as of Oct 2002)
- Rs 375 crore from Karnataka Govt (32.6%)
- Rs 379.5 crore from Indian financial institutions as debt (33%)
- Rs 51.42 crore from the three member international consortium of Siemens Project Ventures, Larsen & Turbo and Unique Zurich Airport
As of March 2023 the share holding is:
- AAI and KSIIDC – 26%
- Fairfax India – 54%
- Other private companies -28
Sometime in 1998 the government selected Devanahalli near Bangalore for this project [heard many lobbyists were behind this selection] and the price of land in the sorrounding areas of Devanahalli just shot up. Farmers became rich overnight [even after paying the cut to middlemen!]. But then came the bad news, the govt decided to change their mind and dropped Devanahalli. Finally, Devanahalli is back again on the map.
The state setup a commitee in August/Sept 2001 to negotiate the final deal with the promoters. The commitee was given a mandate to get the best value for money by exploring avenues of optimising project cost and reducing state support. The committee included,
- Krishna Kumar, Principal Secertary Infrastructure
- B.K. Das, Princial Secreatary Urban Development
- H.S. Kempanna, law secretary
- K. Jairaj, CEO BIAL
- Nasser Munjee, M.D., Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation
- Robert Wadel, President & CEO, Waddel Engineering Corporation [USA]
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