Land for airport by January (original) (raw)

Special Correspondent

Kannur airport will be completed in three years, says Minister

Chief Secretary-led panel to monitor progress

‘There is no shortage of funds for land acquisition’

KANNUR: Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who is also chairman of the Kannur Airport Action Committee, has said that the proposed greenfield airport will be a reality within three years once the acquisition of land near Mattannur is completed by January 2010.

Speaking at a seminar on airport development held here on Saturday, the Minister said that the government would constitute a high-level committee headed by the Chief Secretary to monitor the progress of land acquisition and other activities to accelerate airport development.

Asserting that there was no shortage of funds for land acquisition, he said that Kinfra had already mobilised Rs.250 crore for the procedure. The airport is envisaged as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project with the government and the private partners having 24 per cent and 76 per cent stakes respectively.

Company registration

The Minister announced that the government had given permission for the registration of a company, Kannur International Airport Ltd., to be floated for the development of the airport. The Tourism Secretary, Managing Director of Kinfra and the Kannur Airport Special Officer would be directors of the company, he said, adding that the company registration would be completed this month.

Efforts to find out private partners through global tender proceedings would begin after land was acquired, he said. He said that the government would favour companies that would protect the State’s interests.

Adalat for complaints

As per the present schedule, 485 hectares of land would be taken possession of by Kinfra by the end of this year, the Minister said.

There were also plans to hold special adalat to clear hurdles pertaining to land acquisition. Issues that could not be settled at the District Collector level would be cleared by the government. A high level meeting on the airport would be held in Thiruvananthapuram on October 6, he said.

The Minister also said that the government planned to form a consortium to involve agencies such as the Airport Authority of India and the Infrastructures Kerala Ltd. as stakeholders in the airport project. District Collector V.K. Balakrishnan said that the work for developing infrastructural facilities to the airport would also be taken up simultaneously.

Bypass roads

Kannur-Mattannur, Thalassery-Mattannur, Payyannur-Mattannur, Wayanad-Mattannur, Thalassery-Mahe bypass roads too would be developed, he said adding that the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre had been entrusted with the study of the road projects.

An amount of Rs.50 crore had been allocated for the projects in this year’s budget, he said.

Published - October 04, 2009 12:00 am IST