The State government has approached Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) Ltd. to complete the remaining 20 per cent of work on Gulbarga airport and operate it.
The work on the greenfield airport has remained suspended for more than a year following disputes among the partners of the joint venture company Regional Airport Holdings International (RAHI) Ltd.
Minister for Infrastructure Development R. Roshan Baig told presspersons here on Friday that the State government, after exhausting all efforts to persuade RAHI to resume construction, had started discussion with IL&FS on completing the remaining work and operating the airport.
Two of the subsidiaries of IL&FS — IL&FS Transport and IL&FS Engineering — were part of the joint venture RAHI, and differences between RAHI and IL&FS and other partners led to the suspension of the airport work.
The 3,100-metre runway was completed and 50 per cent of the work on the terminal building was done when differences cropped up among the joint venture partners.
Mr. Baig said RAHI did not respond to notices issued by the State government to restart the work. This forced the government to suspend the contract with RAHI and look for other players to complete the remaining work.
Site studyThe Minister said a high-level executive team of IL&FS would visit the Gulbarga airport site next week and study the possibility of taking over the work. Subsequently, the State would hold discussions with IL&FS and take the final decision.
When asked if the State would take up the remaining work on its own if IL&FS refuses, Mr. Baig said the government would consider other alternatives after holding talks with IL&FS officials.
