Ibrahim’s gift’ costs Rs 1,000 crore

NEW DELHI, Jan 27: Giving himself a farewell gift, Union Minister for Civil Aviation C M Ibrahim, has given in-principal'' clearance to an...

NEW DELHI, Jan 27: Giving himself a farewell gift, Union Minister for Civil Aviation C M Ibrahim, has given “in-principal” clearance to an an international airport in his home town Kannur in Kerala. Sources in the Ministry of Civil Aviation reveal that in doing so, Ibrahim has by-passed the Airport Authority of India (AAI) as the Union Cabinet and hastily cleared the project which would cost about Rs 1,000 crore.

The formal clearance for the airport came in the middle of December and Ibrahim promptly wrote a letter to the State government asking them to find “adequate land for airport construction”.

When contacted by The Indian Express Ibrahim refused to comment in detail on the issue but, confirmed that the Kannur airport was on the cards.

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Sources say that the AAI is in a quandary as it had already indicated that it would not make any funds available for the Kannur airport project the first proposal for which reached them a year ago. Under the new airports policy announced a few months ago,sanction from the Union Cabinet is mandatory before clearance for any airport.

Ibrahim’s letter has asked the State government to call for bids for tenders and to identify partners on a Build Own and Transfer (BOT) basis.

Incidentally, Kerala already has two internationals airports in Trivandrum and Calicut while there is an international airport under construction at Cochin.

Under AAI rules even “in-principal” approval without any financial sanction can only come after a techno-economic survey has been carried out.

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Besides, the AAI board has to consider a feasibility study and finally, prepare a project report based on the above. In the case of the Kannur airport, the AAI board was not even informed of the clearance. Sources say that an earlier techno-economic survey had already turned down the project on several grounds including lack of financial viability.

AAI officials indicate that they are unable to make any funds available to the Kannur airport. The Kerala Govt has been extremely keen onthe project and has repeatedly told the Ministry that it would provide free land for the airport.

If the AAI refuses to fund the project the State Government would have to find collaborator to take on part of the funding. Senior officials connected with AAI say that C M Ibrahim’s “gift” is in line with most politicians desire to gift airport to their “areas of interest”.

Says a senior official “take the case of the Amritsar airport which was cleared at the behest of the Prime Minister, I K Gujral then their is the Ajmer airport where Ibrahim figures again.