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Kochi airport project model worthy of emulation elsewhere, says President

The Rs 2.30 billion Kochi International Airport, India's first airport project with massive financial participation from the public, was dedicated to the nation by President K R Narayanan today.

Located at Nedumbasserry, 25 km north-east of Kochi, the airport is the third international airport in Kerala, the others being Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.

Having a 3,400-metre runway, one of the largest in Asia, the airport is equipped to operate any type of aircraft including Boeing-747 Jumbo jets.

It has a taxi track of 930 metres with two link taxis connecting the runway spread over the panchayats of Nedumbasserry, Sreemoolanagaram and Kanjoor. Its apron can accommodate four wide-bodied aircraft at a time.

The airport's fully-airconditioned terminal buildings, both domestic and international, have a space of 10,000 10,000 square metres each with all modern passenger amenities.

Passengers are having access to parked aircraft through two aerobridges imported from China at a cost of over Rs 10 million. The cargo building spans over an area of 3,500 square metres.

Indian Airlines and Air-India are scheduled to operate flights from the airport to various destinations in the country and West Asia from June 10 for which ticket bookings have started.

The airport is being equipped with night landing facilities for round-the-clock operations.

The project came up on 520 hectares of acquired land, mostly paddy fields and coconut groves, lying east of the railway track between Angamaly and Chowwara railway stations on the Shoranur-Ernakulam section.

Nearly 400 families have been evicted from the project site by providing them alternative house sites near the airport itself.

The state government has 51 per cent equity stake in the project, implemented by the Cochin International Airport Limited, a company mainly promoted by Non Resident Indians hailing from Kerala in West Asia, Europe and the United States. Nearly two million Malayalees are employed in West Asian countries alone.

Construction of the ambitious project began five years ago when the United Democratic Front government headed by K Karunakaran was in office amidst widespread scepticism, financial uncertainties and land acquisition problems.

But the massive financial participation of the public enabled the project to be implemented in a record period of five years, fulfilling a long-cherished dream of Malayalees to have a full-fledged international airport.

The Housing and Urban Development Corporation played a great role by providing a loan of Rs 1 billion for the project. The Federal Bank (Rs 60 million) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (Rs 50 million) were the other major contributors.

Inaugurating the airport, Narayanan said the successful completion of the project indicated prospects for Non Resident Indians' participation in building bridges, ports, roads and other infrastructure projects.

He said NRI deposits alone in banks in Kerala were to the tune of Rs 100 billion.

Narayanan said he was happy to note that more than 10,000 shareholders from 30 countries, mostly NRIs hailing from Kerala had invested in the Nedumbasserry project. It was a splendid achievement of the state government and the people. The project was a model to be emulated elsewhere in the country.

He regretted that though India had a number of international airports, most of them lacked facilities of international standards.

Speaking on the occasion, Union Civil Aviation Minister Anant Kumar said Air-India would operate flights to Gulf destinations like Dahran, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain and Muscat from the new airport from June 10. Flights to Riyadh and Jeddah would be operated shortly.

Kumar, who landed at the airport by a Dornier aircraft of the Airports Authority of India, along with his family, said the Kochi airport was the best in the country and was capable of operating the wide-bodied Boeing 747-400.

Flights to destinations in Europe and the United States could also be operated from the new airport.

He requested the Kerala government and CIAL to name the new airport after Adi Sankaracharya, whose birth place of Kalady is in proximity of the airport.

Addressing the gathering, Chief Minister E K Nayanar, who is also CIAL chairman, said the Union minister had assured him that the new airport would be recognised as an international airport by the government of India within three months.

He also requested the president to use his good offices to get international status to the airport.

Nayanar claimed that it was his government which raised its equity participation in the project to 51 per cent and speeded up the construction to complete it on schedule.

State works and housing minister P J Joseph said construction of approach roads to the airport would be completed as early as possible.

He said the Kerala State Housing Board proposed to construct an international convention centre near the airport.

Braving heavy rain, a large number of people were present to witness the inauguration of the airport.

The President arrived for the function by a Indian Navy helicopter from Kochi. A Boeing-737 of the Alliance Airlines also landed at the airport just before the arrival of the President.

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