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Delhi-weary Kerala to go ahead with Thiruvananthapuram airport project

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

After knocking the doors of the Central government in vain for several years, the Kerala government has decided to develop the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport by mobilising funds from various sources at its command.

The state cabinet has on Wednesday cleared a proposal for setting up a Thiruvananthapuram Airport Development Society on the lines of Nedumbasserry and Karippur airports at Kochi and Kozhikode respectively to develop the airport.

The cabinet has also decided to approach the Central government for permission to collect a user fee of Rs 500 from international passengers to raise part of the funds required for the development. The Centre had permitted collection of user fees in Nedumbasserry and Karipur airports.

The major developmental work proposed to be taken up by the state government is construction of a new terminal. This is estimated to cost of Rs 900 million. Besides, a sum of about Rs 400 million would be required for acquiring nearly 70 acres of land needed for the terminal and other connected facilities.

The state government plans to take loans from the State Infrastructure Development Fund and the Housing and Urban Development Corporation to meet the requirement of funds.

The Karippur airport was expanded by the state government at a cost of Rs 600 million with similar loans to be repaid by the Airports Authority of India. The interest on the loans is paid by the airport development society from the collections of user fee, imposed on the international passengers. Non Resident Indians in the Middle East countries, who mainly use the airport, had resented the user fee and had approached the High Court.

The Nedumbasserry airport, which was taken up as a private sector venture, has now become a public sector enterprise with the Kerala government holding 51 per cent of its equity. The government is now struggling hard to pay off the debts in the absence of adequate operation of flights to the airport.

The government hopes that it would be able to save the airport if it is accorded international status by the Central government, which is still maintaining a silence on the state plea.

While Nedumbasserry and Karippur have better facilities although they are not given international status, the Thiruvananthapuram airport, which was accorded international status in 1991, still lacks basic passenger amenities. Although Thiruvananthapuram ranks third in revenue among 120 airports, including five international airports managed by the AAI, the amount invested on the airport since 1991 is only around Rs 1 billion.

The AAI has brought about only cosmetic changes in the airport, which came into existence in 1935.

The airport has been in the doldrums ever since the Nedumbassery and Karippur airports started operation. Air-India shifted as many as 13 flights from the capital airport to Kochi and Kozhikode. From the 61 international flights handled at the airport a week, it now handles 58 flights. Air-India, which had dominated operations in Thiruvananthapuram till the commissioning of the Nedumbasserry airport, now has no direct flight to many Gulf destinations now.

The travel industry blames the state and central governments for the present plight of the airport, which is the only airport to be upgraded as an international airport ever since India achieved freedom. The travel circles have alleged neglect on the part of the state government due to narrow political considerations.

They said that the state government undermined the capital airport by focusing their attention on new airports, including the one proposed at Kannur. It was Kerala Assembly speaker M Vijayakumar, who turned the attention of the political leaders to Thiruvananthapuram, by mobilising the members of Parliament and state legislature belonging to the feeder areas of the airport in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

He said that it was not the shortage of funds that hampered the growth of the capital airport, but petty politics indulged in by senior leaders.

The Cabinet decision to set up the Thiruvananthapuram Airport Development Society is not considered by many as an end to woes of the airport. They feel that the acquisition of land needed for the expansion can prove to be a big problem if the government does not show the political will.

The people to be affected by the acquisition have already started exerting pressure against the acquisition of land. The acquisition of 27 acres of land needed for the immediate development of the airport has been in the agenda of the government for several years now. It had even allocated Rs 300 million in the last budget for the purpose. The amount has lapsed by now.

The Thiruvananthapuram airport at present has only 350 acres of land as against Kochi having 1,200 acres, Kozhikode 900 acres and the proposed Kannur airport 2,000 acres.

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Kerala