Washington, D.C., partner Elliot Feldman, leader of Baker Hostetler's international trade practice and regular contributor to the practice's China-U.S. Trade Law blog, was quoted in the June 3, 2010, Mint article, "Ministry Wants Regular Cost Updates from Mial." Mint is the second-largest business newspaper in India.
According to the article, in an attempt to check expenditure overruns, the operator of Mumbai's international airport (Mial) has to now regularly update the civil aviation ministry on the cost of modernizing the facility instead of waiting for the project to be completed. The ministry has also asked Delhi International Airport Ltd, run by a consortium headed by GMR Infrastructure Ltd, how the cost of modernizing the capital’s airport has more than doubled, according to the article.
Feldman, who has written extensively on airports, said governments are mostly seen to be helpless while dealing with private contractors. "Governments don't actually build anything; they take bids and hire private contractors. The more the private contractor does, the more the government must depend on them, and the more the contractor can find reasons why the price should go up," said Feldman. "It may always seem unfair, and it is rarely without corruption, but it is also in the nature of the process and inescapable."