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Maharashtra lays red carpet to Boeing
After the Airbus-Boeing scramble to get orders from India’s airline firms, it’s the turn of Maharashtra to woo
Boeing.
BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT
Mumbai, June 28, 2005: The state has reportedly laid out a red carpet to the Seattle-based aircraft maker to set up facilities for aircraft
maintenance, modification and engineering design in the state.
Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, on a trip to the US to woo investments, reportedly gave assurances that
the state would provide all assistance to Boeing including infrastructure for any project to be set up in the state. He met
top Boeing officials at the firm’s facility at Everett near Seattle. Boeing Senior Vice President, sales, Dinesh Keskar was
present.
The Maharashtra Chief Minister went to the extent of saying that Boeing would be provided with uninterrupted power
supply and if need arose an independent power line would be laid for this.
Boeing is reportedly looking to set up a spares manufacturing site in India, though it is yet to zero in on any location for
the proposed project. Boeing had recently bagged an order for 50 jets from state-run Air India, overcoming stiff
competition from arch rival Airbus, in a deal worth $6.8 billion. Airbus had severely criticized the deal citing that the
bidding process was flawed, but the Indian government had denied the charges. The new aircraft would be delivered over
the next seven years till 2012. Low cost airlines like Air India Express , Alliance Air, Air Deccan and Spicejet had been
offering air tickets at rock-bottom prices.
The country’s aviation sector is expected to witness an investment of up to $30 billion dollars in the next five years for
modernization and fleet expansion, according to government estimates.
Maharashtra on its part is in the grip of a power crisis at present, especially after its Dabhol power project fiasco. The
state was entirely dependent on the 2,100 mega
watts of power it would have offered but is unavailable now after the
Enron-promoted Dabhol shut shop.
After the power crisis worsened, the state has withdrawn free power to farmers, causing much political resentment, as
free power to farmers was in the election manifesto of the ruling Congress-NCP coalition. The State Government also
signed pacts with eight private power firms to ensure capacity addition.
The Houston based Enron-promoted Dabhol Power Company ran into rough weather in September 2001, following
disputes with government over the 2,184 megawatt (MW) power project in Maharashtra. In 2001, with Phase II of the
project almost over, Enron announced that it would sell its DPC stake because of payment disputes with Maharashtra
State Electricity Board (MSEB), its sole buyer, and the alleged failure of the Indian government to honor its
counter-guarantee.
San Francisco-based Bechtel Corporation says the Maharashtra Power Development Corp. owes it $123 million for
violating shareholder rights in the Dabhol Power Project. The plant was shut after Enron collapsed. The Maharashtra
government had promised to buy power from the plant, but later backed out citing high prices.
BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT
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