OSLO, Jan 28: The US-based Raytheon Company seems to be unperturbed with the ongoing trouble over its proposed Bangalore airport project with the Tatas.Still optimistic about the project's fate, it has worked out new plans for India, which includes undertaking development work at the Cochin airport and modernising air-traffic control (ATC) systems at the Calcutta and Chennai airports.
Despite its differences with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) over a couple of issues, which resulted in a three-year delay in modernising the ATC systems at the New Delhi and Mumbai airports, the $12.3-billion firm is committed to the country.
It will soon initiate talks with the AAI over installing new state-of-the-art ATC systems at other airports. Though AAI officials are not happy with its association with Raytheon for modernising ATC facilities at the Delhi and Mumbai airports and blame the latter for time and cost overruns, Raytheon officials say infrastructural bottlenecks and other procedural hassles havecaused the delays. Peter Wray, director, marketing, International Air Traffic Control Directorate, Raytheon Electronic Systems, said the AAI was also to be blamed for the delays in installing new ATC facilities at the two airports.
"It will be nearly after a delay of three years that the project would now get completed in Delhi by March 1998 and in Mumbai by June," Wray told Indian journalists visiting the ATC facilities installed by Raytheon in Oslo.
The AAI had decided to join hands with Raytheon in March 1993 to upgrade ATC facilities at the New Delhi and Mumbai airports at an initial estimated cost of Rs 351.87 crore, with a foreign exchange component of Rs 237.25 crore. The project cost now stands at about Rs 480 crore.
Wray said there was no rise in the project cost as far as the American company was concerned. The cost overrun was owing to the rupee-dollar fluctuations. The project's cost in dollar terms was the same even today as was agreed upon during the deal's signing, he added.
"We havenot changed our price in dollar terms even by one cent, but I understand there have been increases in price of the infrastructure.The infrastructure was to be built by the AAI and Raytheon, however, is not part of that," Wray said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
