Mihan not an overnight affair, claims RC Sinha

RC Sinha, who resigned as vice-chairman and managing director of Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) two days ago, on Sunday said that the ambitious Mihan project was overplayed at times which increased the people's expectations as it was widely viewed as the means to catapult the region's economy.

Sinha, whose name had become synonymous with the much-touted Mihan, told TOI that "A lot was written about the project in newspapers which gave the impression that all the development would take place overnight. The fact is that the project of such a massive magnitude takes a long time to complete," he said.

MADC is a state government corporation, developing special economic zone (SEZ) as well as multimodal international hub at Nagpur (Mihan), popularly called as cargo hub. It would take almost 10-15 years for complete development and the benefits start trickling down, he said.

However, he was confident of the economic development Mihan and SEZ would bring to the region. "It will have a cascading effect. The high earning groups coming to Nagpur on account of Mihan or SEZ will spend substantially, brining in turn, money into economy. It would also generate almost three times indirect employment as against direct jobs creation, he added.

Sinha's resignation came amidst concerns over the project's future as most of the existing investors have not initiated steps to start operations and no new big players are showing interest. There were allegations against Sinha for allotting land to Satyam Computers at a very low rate too.

On being asked about the reasons why he quit, Sinha said, "He had been planning it since the last year. "I am running 74 now and it is time that new people take charge," he said. Sinha said he has no plans to work anymore. "I am a free man now, not answerable to the legislature, the Press or the auditors," he said.

Responding to controversies, he said, he did not take decisions all alone. "Every matter was placed before the board of directors. This was not something like all the decisions being taken by a minister in the 2G allocations."

As he leaves MADC, Sinha said he was satisfied with his tenure. The toughest time was facing litigations over land acquisition. There were almost 74 petitions filed by different land owners. Litigations delayed the implementation of the project by exactly 1,086 days, he said. "However, finally, the major part of the infrastructure is ready. So far, infrastructure worth Rs 2,700 crore has been set up. It is estimated that a further expenditure of around Rs 3,000-3,300 crore will be needed of which Rs 300 crore will be required for developing infrastructure at the airport for cargo hub project," said Sinha. Most of the money is required for the cargo hub part, he added.

During his tenure, tenders were invited for appointing consultants to scout for the strategic third partner for the project. Tenders were expected to be opened this month. Bids were invited earlier also but only a single firm - Ernst and Young - responded. So the process had to be repeated. The consultant will advice MADC on roping in the partner by specifying details like qualification and quantum of equity to be contributed to the project.

On the slowdown of the project, he said both the SEZ and the cargo hub have been hit by global recession. Both the ventures depend on the exports which have shrunk due to economic crisis in the West. However, on the brighter side, the volume at Nagpur airport has grown to 4,000 passengers from around 1,200 a few years back, Sinha said.