The aviation dream of Aranmula is to come true soon with the State government giving clearance for an airport project proposed by KGS Aranmula Airport Limited on Thursday.
Talking to The Hindu , company chairman Abraham Kalamannil said the proposal is to construct a full-fledged airport in 500 acres at Aranmula. According to the proposed shareholding pattern, Chennai-based KGS Developers Limited, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and Kadammanitta-based Mount Zion Group will have 30 per cent stakes each and the State government 10 per cent in the company, he says.
Mr. Kalamannil says the company now has 350 acres of land in its possession and the government should acquire the remaining 150 acres required. The company will bear with the financial commitments for land acquisition if the government acquires the land.
The company, he says, has prepared a Rs.2,000-crore project for the airport. The airport will be of great help to Sabarimala pilgrims coming from different parts of the country and abroad, especially during the two-month annual pilgrim season, besides a large number of non-resident Keralites working in different parts of the world.
An airport proposal for Aranmula was first mooted by the Mount Zion Educational and Charitable Trust chaired by Mr. Kalamannil way back in 2003. The trust had launched the preparation of the runway by converting the land in its possession at the Aranmula puncha (paddy fields). The work was stopped for the next two years when various eco-groups and political organisations staged protests against the conversion of the paddy fields.
Later, Mr. Kalamannil resumed the work and a two-seater microlight aircraft landed on the slushy runway on September 2, 2005.
Another company, Aranmula Aviation Limited, was formed in 2007 with P.S. Nair as its chairman and he had announced the setting up of an international airport at Aranmula in a time-bound manner. AAL could not materialise the project owing to certain internal issues. Mr. Kalamannil, who became chairman of the company later, continued his mission. The airport project was once again revived with the entry of the Reliance and the KGS (Kumaran, Gigi George and Shanmugham) groups as the shareholders of a new company named KGS Aranmula Airport Limited.
Mr. Kalamannil says the company has already prepared an 8,000-ft runway and is planning to operate domestic flights and air-taxi services to major cities once it gets the mandatory clearance for the same. Officials of the Airports Authority of India and the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation have inspected the site and given green signal for the project.
