Modernisation of airfields behind schedule

As many as 30 operational air fields of the Air Force are finally set to have improved navigational aids by June, almost four years behind the original schedule.

Meanwhile, a second initiative to upgrade another 37 strategic airfields is yet to take off due to a procedural lapse on the part of the Defence Ministry and Air Headquarters.

Way back in March 2011, the Defence Ministry signed a Rs 1,219.99 crore agreement with Tata Power to install and commission modern navigational aids in 30 airfields, and linking the instruments to the ATC.

The Modernisation of Airfield Infrastructure (MAFI) Phase-1 was to be completed in 42 months - by October 2014.

But only 25 airfields were readied by December 2017 and IAF hopes the remaining five would be completed by June 2018, nearly four years behind schedule.

Incidentally, Chabua Air Force Station in Assam - one of the first bases in the eastern sector to receive Su-30 MKI fighters in 2011 - is included in the last batch on MAFI-1.

This compelled the IAF to shift the combat jets to Hashimara in northern part of West Bengal for regular sorties, notwithstanding Hashimara's proximity to Doklam where Indian and Chinese troops had a 72-days face off last year.

In the part-II of the project, it was planned to modernise another 37 airfields. While 24 of these airfields belong to the IAF, 9 of them are from the Navy and two each from Indian Coast Guard and Aviation Research Centre under the Cabinet Secretariat.

But the scheme was caught in a knot for more than two years, sources told DH.

The second phase of the project was first approved in February 2014 by then defence minister A K Antony using an option clause of the MAFI Phase-1 project at an estimated cost of Rs 1125 crore. But the option was applicable to only 30 airfields while the need was to upgrade 37.

For nearly two years, the government couldn't decide what to do because exercising the option clause would mean taking recourse to a fresh tender route for the remaining seven.

Finally the defence ministry under Manohar Parrikar in September 2016 decided to go for a fresh clearance to all the 37 projects under the (MAFI-1) option clause.

A letter of intent was issued to Tata Power in December 2016 against which the company submitted a draft contract in March 2017.

The two sides are currently engaged in price negotiations.