THIRUVANANTHAPUARAM, 7 June 2008 — Leela Group is likely to secure the new Kannur international airport deal with the state government deciding to execute the project on the Build-Own-Operate basis.
The group headed by the Kannur-based businessman Capt. Krishnan Nair had offered to take up the greenfield airport project through a joint venture with Singapore’s Changi airport, a major aviation hub in Asia, if BOO is permitted so that the airport’s assets need not be transferred to the government.
The state government had been maintaining that it was interested only in Build-Operate-Transfer mode so that the state government could take over the airport at the end of the limited-period concession.
The new decision came at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan last week. The state government will be a minority shareholder in the airport company holding 26 percent stake. “The partner for building the airport would be selected through transparent global bidding process,” Achuthanandan said.
The Cochin International Airport Limited built its airport on the BOO basis but no business group has control over the company. Some 10,000 nonresident Indians are its majority stakeholders while the state government retains 26 percent stake.
The airport with a land bank of 2,000 acres is expected to provide huge boost to the textile as well as tourism industry in northern Kerala. Kannur is among the eight best textile centers in India.
Recently, the Leela Group brought nearly 20 aviation experts here to study the feasibility of the project. Nair hopes to complete the project within two and half years, before the tenure of the present government, with the expertise of the Changi airport.
Federal Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi had announced in January that the airport, initially with one runway, would come up on 2,000 acres at an estimated Rs.9.29 billion at Moorkanparambu near Mattannur, some 20 km away from Kannur city.