Singapore Awaits Gujrals Decision On Tata-Sia Airline

The Singapore government is waiting to see if Prime Minister I K Gujral will revive the proposed Tata-Singapore International Airlines (SIA) joint venture and the Bangalore airport project both of which he favoured during a visit here last year, officials stated.

We know that Gujral has to run a coalition but we hope that he will insist on pushing projects that he knows are sound and mutually beneficial to India and Singapore, said a senior figure in the Singapore-Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Arriving here in the aftermath of Indias elevation as full dialogue partner of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) and acceptance as a member of the Asean Regional Forum a foreign policy achievement that owes itself largely to hefty Singaporean lobbying Gujral had said he would personally hold an inter-ministerial meeting to see how the airline joint venture issue could be resolved. I do agree that we cannot open up the economy and have a conservative outlook on airlines, he had said at the time, indicating also that he had an open mind on easing Indias regulations on foreign media ventures operating in the country.

 

External affairs ministry officials travelling with him noted at the time that Gujral had intervened successfully with the civil aviation ministry to sort out a prickly issue concerning landing rights for Air Mauritius. However, they cautioned that the Singapore projects were of an entirely different dimension. Officials said that in meetings here with officials and investors, Gujral was hard put at the time to explain the working of the civil aviation ministry in stalling the two proposals, especially after they had cleared all the other key ministries.

The discomfort was all the more acute because it was known that the Tatas pioneered civil aviation in India and that the airline proposal had fulfilled every existing criterion and matched the ownership structures of existing carriers.

The apparent reneging on the airport project insisting on build own transfer (BOT) after signing for build own operate (BOO) terms was also an immense embarrassment for a foreign minister projecting an increasingly economic-oriented foreign policy. Aware that Gujral has already moved out civil aviation secretary Yogesh Chandra, Singapore officials and international investors here are now watching Gujral to see if he can get civil aviation minister C M Ibrahim to change his mind despite the latters loud and persistent opposition to the projects. The delay has already proved costly for the 640 million Singapore dollar Bangalore airport project with some partners in the Singapore consortium this week announcing a virtual pull-out, prompted by their dismay and bafflement over the civil aviation ministrys intransigence.

Even if the project was to be okayed under fresh guidelines, it is well possible that the alignment of the Singapore consortium may look markedly different from the existing one, sources connected to the joint venture proposal said.