New Delhi: Shortage of funds has drastically slowed infrastructure development at two major airbases where the Rafale fighter aircraft will be deployed. The first jet is expected to fly down in September.The development works at Ambala in Haryana, for the western front, and Hasimara in West Bengal, for the eastern front, such as hangars for the aircraft were to be completed by April this year. But, only 40% work has been completed so far and the remaining job is delayed because of funds crunch to the Military Engineer Service (MES) contractors.MES Builder Association of India (BAI) has its dues lying unpaid for the last three years by the government. Around 10,000 contractors are part of this association. The group looks after the basic infrastructure requirement and maintenance work of the defence services. “We will be able to know when it can be completed only when the money comes,” BAI president Praveen Mahana said on Monday. Work at some other airfields such as Bareilly, Sulur and Tambaram, which house squadrons of fighter jets, helicopters and transport aircraft, are also affected by the fund shortage. The Trishul air base in Bareilly, where Sukhoi fighters are deployed and which is strategically important against China, has its runway upgrade left in limbo. “At all air force stations, projects are on the verge of closing due to nonavailability of funds,” Mahana said.Major projects in operational areas in Jammu and Kashmir , especially in Srinagar, Leh and Kargil, have either stopped or made no progress for overdues. These include accommodation for officers and jawans. “In all projects at Leh, including married quarters and division accommodation, payments have stopped. There is more than Rs 25-crore liability. In Srinagar, no work is going on, as the working season is off due to the snow. In addition, builders (of MES) have not got payment for works from March 1 to October 30 last year,” said Karan Kapoor, regional vice-president of the northern region of MES BAI. All such projects, which also include cantonment roads, had liabilities of Rs 1,600 crore but this has increased to Rs 2,000 crore. The defence ministry, however, has paid only Rs 250 crore, BAI said. Although the issue of non-payment of dues has been ongoing since the last three years, it has been acute from November 2017.