Plans are afoot to acquire land for Kannur airport

Thiruvananthapuram: The long cherished dream of Keralites to open an airport in Kannur moved closer to reality today with the State Cabinet deciding to acquire 2,000 acres of land for the purpose.

This was disclosed by Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan while briefing the media on the latest Cabinet meeting.

Achuthanandan said the Kinfra, the state infrastructure promotion agency, had been appointed as the nodal body to pursue the work.

Efforts for securing the required union government clearances for the project were also progressing well.

Kannur airport is being planned as a public-private participation project on the model of Cochin International Airport Ltd, in which non-resident Keralites, especially those from the Gulf, have a major stake.

Shot in the arm

The opening of the much talked about fourth Kerala international airport is expected to be a shot in the arm for development projects in the Malabar region.

After years of planning the Kerala cabinet finally gave the nod for the Rs 9.3-billion (Dh775 million) airport project when Oommen Chandy was the chief minister.

At that time, Chandy said debt-equity ratio of the project would be 70:30 and the private investor for the project would be selected through a transparent competitive bid procedure.

The government and its agencies would hold at least 26 per cent shares in the project which would be implemented in three phases.

It was initially calculated that while the first phase would cost Rs4.5 billion (Dh375 million) and the second Rs7.1 billion (Dh591 million). Rs 1.4 billion (Dh1.1 million) would be set apart for the land acquisition.

A Central Government assistance of Rs 1.2 billion was expected for the project under the Infrastructure Project Validity Gap Scheme.

The Mumbai-based Leela Group of Industries has evinced keen interest in the project under the Build, Operate and Own (BOO) scheme.

The Cabinet today decided to allot land in lease for the Ezhimala naval academy. The Chief Minister said ten acres of land would be given for the naval academy.

The Cabinet also granted permission for the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) to implement the Pathrakadavu Hydro-Electric Project.