Kannur International Airport
Ltd, a company formed by the
Kerala government to implement
the Kannur International Airport
project, is evaluating the
Request for Proposals for a project
consultant.
"A new consultant is being appointed
for the project for which the RfP
had been floated with June 18, 2012,
as the last date. The proposals
received are under evaluation right
now," said V. Thulasidas, Managing
Director, Kannur International Airport
Ltd, told Projectmonitor.
The greenfield airport project
received in-principle approval from
the central government in 2008. The
airport is being built on about 2,000
acres of land at Mattannur, some 20 km southeast of Kannur town.
Mattannur is about 50 km from the border with Coorg district of Karnataka.
The new airport will be convenient for flyers from the northern
parts of Kozhikode and Wayanad districts as well as Kannur and
Kasargod districts.
The airport will have Code 4E runway of 3,400m that will cater to
most wide-bodied aircraft in operation today. The consultant of the
airport project has confirmed the feasibility of a second parallel runway
which could be taken up in future depending on traffic volume.
"The airport, which is designed for about three million passengers
in 2025, will be constructed in phases, with phase-I construction to
commence by the end of this year and expected to be completed by
2015-16," Thulasidas said.
Phase-II construction will start after the completion of phase-I i.e.
2016 and will be completed by 2025. Construction of Phase-III will
start in 2026 and completed by 2045.
According to Thulasidas, the DPR of the project envisages a total
project cost of `1,414 crore, with a very large quantum of earthwork.
Pre qualification for the earthwork has been advertised and the last
date for receipt of applications is July 31, 2012. The actual work is
expected to commence in October 2012 and based on the progress,
the work on pavement will be taken up in 2013-14. While terms of
reference for environment clearance were approved by the Ministry
of Environment and Forests in February 2012, the final clearance is
expected by October 2012.
On the equity of the project, Thulasidas said, "The Board of Directors
of the company is headed by the chief minister of Kerala. The
state government will have 26 per cent equity in the form of land and
the remaining equity will be distributed among public sector undertakings
(23 per cent), private sector (49 per cent) and companies
sponsored by the government but PSUs (2 per cent). The private
sector share will be held mostly by local people including NRIs. The
subscription to the equity capital is underway and is expected to be
fully achieved by March 2013."
Kannur, a seaside town in north Kerala, has no airport. The new
airport project will cater to the international and domestic travel
requirements of the region and has the distinction of being the fourth
international airport in Kerala, others being Thiruvananthapuram,
Kochi and Calicut.