Patel sends team to woo Tatas

"The defence ministry has agreed that the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd airport will cater to only short-haul flights. There is also an agreement with the the Centre that the Tatas would be permitted to charge higher levies at the new airport, though the quantum has to be worked out," he added.The Friday meeting was attended by Union Civil Aviation Minister Ananth Kumar and Defence Minister George Fernandes besides Patel.Patel set a time frame of one month for the project to get off the ground. The memorandum of understanding between the Tatas and the Karnataka government on the airport expires in end-September.

The state Karnataka chief minister has also sent a letter to Ratan Tata inviting him for a meeting on theairport project. "I have urged Ratan Tata to get together his consortium members and arrive at a decision on the project at the earliest," Patel said.He indicated that a new MoU can be signed if the current one expires before a decision on the project is reached.

Patel added that the Bangalore airport will be a joint venture between the Centre, the state government and the Tata-led consortium of companies.The Centre and the Karnataka government will each hold 13 per cent equity in the airport while the remaining 74 per cent will be held by the Tata-led consortium, he said.

The Tata group’s partners for the airport project are Changi Airports Authority of Singapore and the US-based Raytheon International. The Tatas withdrew from the airport project two months ago, stating that repeated delays had rendered the project financially unviable.

On whether the Tatas will return to the airport project, Patel maintained that there was no official confirmation of the Tatas withdrawing from the project.