Most Hyderabadis proud of the swanky
new airport at Shamshabad would know that GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL), the company that created the airport, was also planning to create an aerotropolis around the Rajiv Gandhi International airport (that is the official name of the airport).
However, that is not likely to happen very soon. The main reason is, yes, the Telangana agitation.
The property market in Hyderabad has been depressed for a long time, and continues to be, due to the political uncertainity in the state. That has resulted in a glut of office space in Hyderabad.
Indeed, for the real estate market, it has been a litany of woes. First, the recession that started in 2008 had dealt a body blow to the sector, and that lasted for a good 2 years. Then, the death of YSR saw the resurgence of KCR and the separate Telangana movement that he sparked off, and the first casualty was the property market in Hyderabad.
The Telangana uncertainity refuses to go away, and all high-profile real estate ventures have been postponed, thanks to lack of buyer interest - nobody wants to invest in property since there is so much of it going around (think all those Aliens ads screaming in your face for over a year now), and since people think the prices will continue to decline.
In this context, it is quite easy to see GHIAL deciding to go slow on the aerotropolis.
The aerotroplis was supposed to be a bunch of facilities in a 1,000 acre area around the airport - seven "ports" to "promote education, healthcare, entertainment, hospitality, commercial and logistics".
But there's a large inventory of office space and hotels in Hyderabad already. And plans for a 500-bed hospital as part of the aerotropolis are on the back-burner, too - remember, that's far-flung Shamshabad, and it requires a very vibrant local enonomy indeed for such investments there to flourish.
Plus, it's hard to see the 2 SEZs planned there taking off in the current scenario.
Given that the accrued losses of the GHAIL stand at about Rs. 250 crores, the company would understandably be careful about huge investments in an uncertain political scenario. For now, GHAIL appears to be focusing on passenger and cargo traffic to boost revenues.
So it appears that those looking forward to the aerotropolis - whether for the business opportunities, for the development of Shamshabad or for the improvement of image of the city as such - will need to wait for much longer.