Kerala to get 4th international airport; commercial operations by May 2016

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will lay the foundation stone of the state's fourth international airport at Kannur on Saturday and its commercial operations are expected to start in May 2016.

The state government has 35 per cent stake in the airport, and the terminal would have the capacity to handle 2,000 passengers at a time, Minister for Ports and Airport K Babu said on Friday.

The work contract for the 75,000 sq ft integrated terminal building has been awarded to L&T Construction Buildings and Factories at an estimated cost of Rs 498 crore.

As per the contract, work has to be completed by May 2016. If the company failed to do so, it would have to pay five per cent fine. In case of completing the project before time, they would be paid bonus, he said.

Construction of runway would also be carried out by the same company with an estimated cost of Rs 694 crore and nearly 10 per cent of work had already been completed, he said. The runway work is expected to be over by December 2015, the minister said.

On equity participation, he said, though 21 per cent of shares were earmarked for public sector undertakings, only 19 per cent had been purchased so far.

Kerala-based Federal Bank, South Indian Bank and State Bank of Travancore had already taken shares, he said.

The other airports in the state are at Thiruvananthapuram, Neddumbassery in Kochi and Karipur in Malappuram district.