Commissioning of Bangalore’s international airport has acquired political overtones with the UPA and the NDA in a silent tug-of-war for mileage.

A world class international airport for the Silicon Valley of India was officially conceived in 1991. Initially, the airport was to be located on Mysore road some 30 km from Bangalore. However, reportedly on account of vested political interests, the venue was later shifted to Devanhalli on Hyderabad highway (NH7).

Delays and difficulties have persistently dogged the project ever since its conception. After a decade of uncertainty, the process finally made some headway with Siemens-Zurich Airport-led consortium winning the contract in October 2001. It took another four years for construction to begin and the date of inauguration was stipulated as March 30, 2008. Half way through the construction, when it became evident that growth of passenger traffic had overtaken the planned capacity, the Ministry of Civil Aviation suggested suitable upgrade for Phase I, pointing out a number of other inadequacies in the design. Midway, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) rehashed plans, incorporating all the suggestions from the ministry without any change in the date of inauguration. This was a matter of prestige for BIAL.

Now, with the inauguration just days away, it comes to light that the airport will not be ready by then after all. On March 7, the ministry rescheduled the inauguration for May 11. While 59 points for correction has been observed by the ministry, the stated reason is lack of readiness of the Air Traffic Management System which includes installation, commissioning, calibration and trial of Radio Beacons, Radars, Instrument Landing Systems and Communication Facilities. Positioning, familiarisation and training of personnel with the air traffic management system and procedures is also to be completed before the airport is cleared by the Directorate General Civil Aviation for all weather operations.