'Taskforce set up for roadmap to build indigenous plane'

New Delhi: The government has set up a high- level task force to develop a roadmap for building aircraft under the 'Make in India' programme, which will decide on setting up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the Rs 10,000- crore project, Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

"A high level taskforce to develop the roadmap with implementable recommendations has been set up under the chairmanship of the Civil Aviation Minister," Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu told members in Rajya Sabha.

Responding to supplementaries on the issue, he said the task force has been working on the matter and have already taken several steps, but a decision on forming an SPV will be taken at the Committee of Secretaries.

The task force will consist of 106 people from HAL, NAL, ADF and DRDO for appraisal. So, these will be the persons actually constituting the SPV. Enough financial and administrative powers may be sought for the SPV to implement the project, he said.

"This is an idea which will actually change the manufacturing infrastructure. It is almost a Rs 10,000 crore project," he said.

Prabhu said we are not just trying manufacturing through this process, but will also encourage anyone who has manufacturing capabilities to manufacture aircraft so that we can bridge the gap that exists between the demand and supply and actually do that at the same time.

In his written reply, he said a High-Level Task Force under the Chairpersonship of the Minister of Civil Aviation has been taken up for the holistic development of the ecosphere for manufacture of civilian aircraft, helicopters and associated aviation equipment in India.