Kushinagar airport plan finds no takers

Lucknow A month after the Mayawati government backtracked on the much sought after public-private-partnership project in the health sector without giving any reason, private developers have turned their back on the government’s ambitious project — development of an international airport at Kushinagar to attract foreign tourists to eastern UP’s Buddhist circuit.
No developer turned up to submit the financial bid for the airport project as the deadline ended on July 31.
While no one in the state Tourism Department is ready to explain the lack of interest about the project among the developers, sources said the companies were not convinced about the feasibility of building the airport at Kushinagar.
“The matter will soon be placed before the empowered high-level committee. Nothing can be said as of now,” said Avanish Awasthi, Tourism Secretary and Managing Director of Uttar Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation, which is the nodal agency for the project.
However, the government is not in a mood to give up the project, and is planning to fix another date for inviting bids. This time, the government is hopeful of addressing the reservations of the developers, and also confident of convincing them about the project’s feasibility.
04/08/10 Maulshree Seth,Maulshree Seth/Express India

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Categories: airports aug 2010, New Aug 2010