Kochi, Kerala:
Work on a new Rs 800-crore terminal at Cochin International Airport Ltd would begin tomorrow in the biggest expansion since it started operations in 1999.
The Kerala Chief Minister will lay the foundation stone for the world-class terminal tomorrow.
The development comes a day ahead of the work on the fourth international airport in the state at Kannur kicking off on February 2.
"Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will lay the foundation stone for the new international terminal tomorrow and the work construction will begin on the same day.
"The new terminal is likely to be opened to the public in two-and-a-half years. We are investing over Rs 800 crore for the terminal," Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) Managing Director V J Kurien told PTI from Cochin today.
The other projects, involving over Rs 200 crore investments, are the second phase of the CIAL would include a golf course, a solar power unit, a duty-free warehousing complex, a golf academy, an aviation safety training institute, and an integrated airport management system, he said.
For the Cochin airport, this Rs 1,000-crore ambitious plan marks its biggest expansion since it began operations in 1999 as the first greenfield airport in the public-private partnership model.
The new terminal will have three-times more built-up area of 15 lakh sq ft with 15 aerobridges that can handle a peak hour capacity of up to 4,000 passengers or 10 million passengers annually, Kurien said.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister A K Antony will lay the foundation stone for Kerala's fourth international airport at Kannur, a multi-party joint venture on Sunday. The first phase of the project involves and investment of Rs 1,590 crore.
The government will hold 35 per cent in the airport, Airports Authority 26 per cent, oil major BPCL will have 23 per cent and the rest will be held by private sector, including Federal Bank and NRI businessman M A Yusuf Ali, would hold 5 per cent stake each and the remaining 5 per cent would be given to NRK groups.
The new international airport is expected to be ready in 2015. Kerala already has three airports in Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Kochi a fifth one is planned to come up at Aranmulla in Pathanamthitta district in central Kerala.
The new Kochi airport terminal will help the airport, set up way back in 1999 under a PPP model with investments individual public, mostly from non-resident Keralites, to keep pace with its increasing passenger traffic that is growing by 12-13 per cent, Kurien added.