Experts slam House panel report on BIA
TNN 23 December 2009, 03:32am IST
BANGALORE: The state government has landed itself in a spot, as its Joint House Committee report on the Bengaluru International Airport has come in for severe criticism from industry captains. They believe the report questions the very premise of the public-private partnership model on which the airport project was built.
The Rs 2,500-crore BIA is the first and largest PPP project to have come up in the state. Over Rs 50,000 crore is riding on the back of several PPP projects in road and infrastructure projects. Barring this, the state government is talking of PPP projects in biotechnology, IT, textile and agro-processing, etc.
"How can the state government talk about PPP when this is how they treat their private partners? The government is sending the wrong signal to industry on the future of PPP," said Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CMD, Biocon and chairperson of the state's Vision Group on Biotechnology. "This report will surely create a temporary feel-bad factor in industry. As an industry body, we'll definitely take up this matter with the government, in the right spirit," said T Parabrahman, chairman, CII Karnataka chapter.
K R Girish, president, Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce, said, "This report could also damage the state's prospects for organizing the Global Investors' Meet in June 2010. Such reports will make it difficult for the government to invite foreign investment and private equity participation for projects in the pipeline." Harish Bijoor, domain expert, says the Hyderabad airport built with private participation gives you a feel of being in an international airport. So, there is nothing wrong with it.
