Thiruvananthapuram, Tuesday 14 December 2010: Kerala is to get its fourth international airport at Kannur, the foundation stone for which will be laid Dec 17, state Tourism and Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said.

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan would lay the foundation stone for the airport at 11 a.m. on December 17; he said adding that Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel would preside over the function.
Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy, Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran and Minister of State for Railways E. Ahammed would also participate in the function, he said.

‘Once complete, this would be the biggest airport in the state. Close to 1,300 acres of land has already been acquired and another 700 acres would be acquired once work commences this year itself. We expect to complete the work in two years time,’ said Kodiyeri.

Acknowledging the support of all political parties and organisations for their active involvement in the efforts to make the project a reality, Kodiyeri remembered Defence Minister A.K. Antony’s intervention that helped the airport project secure the Central approval.

An extent of 1,578 acres of land had already been acquired through Kinfra and the remaining 783 acres would be acquired on a fast track basis, he told the meeting. The acquisition procedure would be completed by January next year. Rehabilitation of 122 families displaced from the acquired land was also under way.

He said the State government would have control over 51 per cent of the share in Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL) floated with an authorised capital of Rs.1,000 crore. Of this, 26 per cent of the equity would be with the government.

The value of the land totalling 26 per cent of the authorised capital would be converted into the government’s equity. The land exceeding that value would be given on lease to the company, he said. He said that 23 per cent of the equity would be with the public sector undertaking and two per cent with Infrastructure Kerala Ltd. (Inkel).

The remaining 49 per cent of the equity would be with private individuals and institutions, he said. Three entrepreneurs had approached the government expressing their willingness to have 26 per cent of the equity each, he disclosed.

The government, however, had taken a decision to allocate 16 per cent of the shares to each of them. The remaining shares would be mobilised from local entrepreneurs and individuals, Kodiyeri said.

(With agency inputs)