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COMMENTS

Dear Sant and Syed

Herein lies the quandry. The only land available is to the south. The government procurred the 4000 acres and gave to BIAL.

The current runway is on the northern edge. As per international aviation safety norms the minimum separation between two runways is 1nm or almost 2km. To the north of the airport are roads, lakes, and Devanahalli. So this is not a viable option.

The runway to the south is the only option. But this is within 3nm of YEL. It is permitted by international aviation norms, but remember YEL is a training base, so it is possible for inaccurate flight paths. Hence the safety concerns. Given the past behaviour of AAI and BIAL, IAF is rightly concerned about getting muscled out.

And then there are concerns about Aero India. South of YEL is the township of Yelahanka, north is BIAL.

While this is addressable by outside agencies like public and government, what is not within our control is finance.

In 2006, when the terminal was expanded, the promoters did not put in one paisa of the additional Rs. 500+ Cr cost. They just took additional loans, and made the airport concessionaires (cargo terminals, restaurants, ground handlers, etc.) pay more security deposit.

Does this imply that the promoters are now unwilling/unable to put more investment, and only looking to extract profits ?

A second runway and terminal expansion will easy cost upwards of Rs. 1,000 Cr., and I honestly do not know if, but I suspect that, BIAL will use the UDF to finance the expansion. That will slow the pace of expansion. That is the most logical explanation I can come up with since BIAL talking about a second runway only in 2014 ?

I have posted a blog entry.

"On May 13th, I had visited the new Bengaluru International Airport being constructed by the BIAL consortium, and posted my visit report. Some BIAL officials called around wanting to find out who took me inside the airport. The reason -- they wanted to escort and show me around the airport.

I welcome BIAL sentiments and will visit BIAL anytime, at BIAL's invitation.

Industry and citizens have genuine concerns on the capacity and cargo facilities at the new airport. BIAL has not, effectively utilised multiple opportunities offered by Chambers of Commerce to allay these concerns.

Industry, including me, are not opposed to BIAL, but at the same time, we are not willing to blindly believe vague indications being offered by BIAL. Mr. Brunner, please take the time to sit down with us, allay our fears, give us specific data, clarify our interpretations.

Convince us on your airport, Mr. Brunner."

I hope BIAL and Mr. Brunner take up my offer.

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Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

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

 

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“Initially, we will try to experiment with a bus lane on the extreme left of the road on either side. One lane, 3 mtrs, will be used for bus service and if the model clicks, then we can make it a permanent feature on the road. Having an exclusive airport bus service without a lane does not solve the problem,’’ said traffic expert and BMTC adviser M N Sreehari. 

Source: Yesterday's(14-May) TOI

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This is w.r.t to your article "http://sniperz11.blogspot.com/2008/04/bangalore-airport-daylight-dacoity.html". I did conduct a visit to the airport today. Here are a few points which I found uncovered or in my opinion "different." 1. W.r.t to the trumpet interchange. The loops that take you take to the airport and back to Bangalore are complete, only the seond coat of Paint is remaining - in fact I drove on them. 2. There is a visitors ticket counter and entry next to the arrivals entrance, which allows you go inside the main terminal building and even sit at the Cafe Coffee day, the Bistro or even browse at the Odyssey Book stall. 3. The parking area also has a Cafe with chairs and tables for visitors. The tables and chairs are currently wrapped up and kept away since it is not visible. 4. there is a lot of Canopy that saves you from the rain, that guides you from the far end of the car park/bus terminal to the main terminal building. 5. This is my favourite Part. After security/immigration check once you enter the departure hold area, the view of Nandi Hills is beautiful! I am glad unlike hyderabad the view is not obstrcuted by art on the glass. In fact even if an international passenger arrives he walks along this apron view before entering arrivals. If were to return to Bangalore after a long time I would love to be greeted by such a sight. 6. I will not comment on the size and the escalators untill the airport is functional. 7. The arrivals - International has 4 belts while Domestic have 3. This area has a swing gate which allows the number belts to be increased depending on the hour. Finally I personally am ok with the simplicity in the airport, I am sure in time the color will be added with paintings,graphics etc...I am more keen in the fucntional aspect enabling me to enter and exit quicker than other airports. I did also explore the busses to BIAL (the Vaayu vajras) they are equipped with Luggage Racks and a Helper to assist you with the Baggage. As soon as you alight at BIAL there are Trolleys that greet you and a Porter Service too that isnt going blow a large hole if you have a lot of bags. In fact using the bus would save traffic on the road as well.

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I think you are both right in your assesments. But lets look at this in a different way.

What BIAL has built already cannot be undone.. But they will have to take a cue from here to PLEASE LISTEN to all the shortcomings talked about here and elsewhere so that the next phase is planned in a very constructive way. Be it aesthetics of the new terminals or the size and functionality - it has to be on par with any top airports in the world.

Just for information I was looking up some information yesterday on the web and found that Denver Intl has 33,000 acres (Yes its thirty three thousand acres) at its disposal for the airpot. All that we can ask BIA is to utilize more of the 4050 acres we have to make it a great one.
Devesh - your comparison chart (PDF Version) is awesome.

With all this said - like you all agree 23rd May will tell us where we stand.

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Mr Praful Patel
Hon’ble Union Minister for Civil Aviation
Government of India
New Delhi

May 13th 2008

Dear Mr Patel

Sub: Renegotiation of BIAL concession agreement

As you are aware, Bangalore City Connect Foundation, a multi-stakeholder platform of Bangalore’s citizens, filed a PIL in the Karnataka High Court, seeking the intervention of the court to keep the current HAL airport at Bangalore open, even after the new BIAL airport is inaugurated. Our arguments for this are driven by a variety of factors, including the significant issue of capacity constraints at the new airport, given the explosive growth of air traffic beyond original projections and the need to keep existing infrastructure available rather than being shut down.

The Karnataka High Court has directed that the parties to the original concession agreement should renegotiate their agreement so as to keep HAL airport open. This view has also been supported by the Supreme Court of India in its subsequent ruling.

Against the background of these two rulings, we at Bangalore City Connect were very confident that the parties involved would take sufficient due diligence to reach a consensus for a renegotiation, led by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, GoI. We are therefore extremely surprised and dismayed to find that after barely two meetings that were not even attended by all key participants, a hasty decision has been reached to close down the HAL airport and open the BIAL airport in the next few days. We also find that when we have asked for minutes of these deliberations, these “meetings” were not even minuted. This leads us to wonder about the nature of effort taken to renegotiate. It took several months for the original concession agreement to be reached, and barely a few hours to determine that no renegotiation was possible. We also find that the decision to open BIAL and shut down HAL on May 23rd, is being taken even before the parties present their findings to the High Court.

We find this cavalier attitude to such a brave matter extremely objectionable. It is not only a refutation of the directives of the Karnataka High Court and the Supreme Court, but also a repudiation of the sentiments of the citizens of Bangalore. We urge that this decision be immediately be changed, and that a rigorous process for renegotiation be established. This must include a detailed feedback of the views of all stakeholders, including HAL Airport and the airline operators. We also urge that an independent study be undertaken of the capacity of BIAL airport. These activities are critical inputs for any reasonable decision-making regarding renegotiations. We are very confident that both these activities can be undertaken within a period of a few weeks, and thereby not cause any undue delay to the opening of BIAL airport, especially when compared to the several months that have already been incurred. We wish to state clearly here that our position is not to delay the opening of BIAL, but rather to ensure that HAL is kept open at this time.

Sir, as you can see, we are extremely anguished at the decision taken yesterday on the matter of HAL airport, we urge you to display the right leadership in calling for an immediate meeting of all the parties concerned, and establishing a rigorous, transparent and equitable process for the renegotiation of the BIAL concession agreement. This will be the only way by which the public can be convinced that sufficient due diligence was taken to address this serious public issue in the city of Bangalore.

We are confident that our plea will fall on receptive ears, and look forward to your actions!


Sincerely

M Lakshminarayan
Chairman
Bangalore City Connect

Ramesh Ramanathan
Secretary
Bangalore City Connect

Copy to:
Mr Ashok Chawla, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India
Mr Sudhakar Rao, Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka

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Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

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

 

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