selecta Member
Joined: 24 Dec 2006 Posts: 813 Location: ORD
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Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 6:21 pm Post subject: Boeing MRO hits roadblock |
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BS Reporter / Mumbai/ Nagpur January 11, 2007
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Maharashtra Airport Development Company Ltd asks firm to reduce demand for land.
Boeing's decision to set up a Rs 450 crore ($100 million) maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility here has apparently run into rough weather with the Maharashtra Airport Development Company Limited (MADC) asking the aircraft manufacturer to reduce its demand for land by half.
Vice Chairman and Managing Director of MADC R C Sinha believes the demand for 80 acres from Boeing was not practical. "Across the world several major MROs are built on land much less than what Boeing is demanding," said Sinha listing similar facilities at Singapore (35 acres) and Frankfurt (30 acres) as examples.
�We cannot give them more than 35 acres. We can make an exception by increasing it by another 10 per cent but not more than that,� Sinha remarked while interacting with reporters here. He said, Boeing perhaps wanted to work on a single storied structure stretched across the land it had demanded. �We expect them to re-work their requirement to come up with a more reasonable demand,� he said.
MADC officials said that MROs elsewhere were multi-storeyed and hence the demand was questionable to say the least. They said, the cost of land being offered here was not much and it was a normal practice to try and corner more land for future use. Sinha said that the company had been informed of MADC's reservations and Boeing was expected to re-work its requirement and come up with a plan soon.
Interestingly, MADC has allotted 140 acres to computer hardware manufacturer HCL. Sinha said that HCL had committed to provide employment to about 10,000 people over five to six years. Over 100 acres has also been allotted to some other IT companies for setting up IT parks and to Shapoorji Pallonji for developing a similar facility.
The MADC received formal approval for setting up the multi-product Special Economic Zone (SEZ) over 2,086 hectares in the Multi-Modal International Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) command area of 4,311 hectares on November 6, 2006, Sinha revealed. He said, of the 2,092 hectares MADC acquired so far, 280 hectares had been leased to various firms which had shown interest in setting up projects here.
The remaining area is either under negotiation or in the process of being given to other companies. Sinha said MADC had received Rs 42 crore as the upfront amount at 20 per cent of Rs 210 crore � the value of land offered to interested parties in the MIHAN project. �The balance will be received by December 2007,� he said.
Sinha claimed that the ambitious MIHAN project was still on track and had been delayed by a mere 20 days. Satisfied with the progress, MADC expects to have a worldclass road and rail network in place by December 2007 and most of the cargo hub up and running latest by April 2008.
Sinha said that tenders for crucial works like a fire station building, road and rail terminal, administrative complex had already been floated and work was on at various stages in the MIHAN designate area. _________________
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