Hunt for parking space before city date with jet set
KOLKATA: For a city where big business hasn't always been enthusiastic to make a touchdown, it's a happy problem of plenty.
The West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) is scrambling to find parking space at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport for at least six private jets that will land on January 9 for an industry meet organized by the state government. Officials say it's the first time in 15 years that the airport will host such a large fleet. The last time it received an entourage of private jets was in 1996 when British Prime Minister John Major arrived with a three-jet fleet to attend the CII Partnership Summit.
Even as the state government sees huge potential in Bengal Leads 2012 - the B2B industrial fair that it hopes will help attract investment in the cash-strapped state - it has more immediate issues to manage. The six leading industrialists who will arrive in private jets are DLF vice-chairman Rajiv Singh, Punj Lloyd chairman Atul Punj, Indonesia-based mining company Bumi Resources chairman N A Rathore, JSW chairman Sajjan Jindal, TVS chairman Venu Srinivasan and Universal Success chairman Prasoon Mukherjee. The TVS chairman may come on January 14, the closing day of the meet, sources said.
Jet parking: Govt will write to AAI
PepsiCo India chairman Manu Anand, ITC chairman Y C Deveshwar, along with the company's executive directors, TAFE chairman Mallika Shrinivasan, S K Birla Group chairman Siddharth Birla and General Motors director Christopher B Bird are among those who will attend Bengal Leads 2012. Some of them may arrive in private jets.
WBIDC managing director Nandini Chakraborty said she would write to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to arrange for parking for the private jets. "We shall get the detailed travel schedule and the carrier numbers by Saturday. After that the state government will approach AAI. This is perhaps the first time that so many private jets are coming on a single day. The number could increase as we are expecting more confirmations," she said.
It's not just parking space that the industry leaders are enquiring about. Some of them, like Bumi's N A Rathore, use a Boeing 747 and aren't sure if the city airport can provide landing space for jumbo jets. WBIDC is also facing enquiries on whether the airport has adequate ground staff to handle the fleet of jets. On a normal day, NSCBI Airport can accommodate two to three private jets in its parking bays. Some more can be accommodated in a remote parking bay. Sources said the parking bays of the international terminal could be used if the air traffic isn't heavy.
According to sources, 32 big companies are putting up stalls in Bengal Leads. These are PepsiCo India, Gujarat Ambuja Cement, ITC, MCC PTA, JSW, Matix, Gail, SBI, TIL, Telcon, Universal Success, South Asia Petro etc. "There will be industrialists across the sectors - from food processing, engineering to farm equipments," a source said.
Besides, leading industrialists from the state like Sanjiv Goenka, Harsh Neotia, M K Jalan, C K Dhanuka, Sanjay Budhia have given their consent. There will be special sessions on automobile, MSME, tourism, infrastructure, food processing and information.
Source
Hope something very good comes out of this...