Thiruvananthapuram, June 23 (IANS) The foundation stone for the fourth international airport in Kerala would be laid at Mattanur near Kannur Nov 1, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said Wednesday.
A new company Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL) has already been registered and the new Rs.1,000 crore airport would be build under a private-public initiative.
The state government’s contribution would be the value of the land that it has been acquiring for this venture since 1998.
As much as 916 acres has been acquired so far and the rest 368 acres required for the first phase of the airport would be acquired before July 15.
‘By August the consultant would be selected through a bid process and on Nov 1 the foundation stone would be laid,’ Achuthanandan said.
According to KIAL managing director and former civil aviation secretary V. Thulasidas, the airport would be ready for use in three years time and a study that was done earlier found that in an year after it opens close to 1.5 million passengers would use this airport and it would handle 86,000 tonnes of cargo in a year.
Kerala already has three international airports at Kochi, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram.
