Former Minister K.C. Joseph, MLA, has called on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to make the State government’s stand clear on the runway length of the Kannur International Airport under construction here in the wake of the Kannur International Airport Ltd. (KIAL) Managing Director V. Thulasidas’s statement that the 4,000-metre proposed runway is not required for the operation of the airport.
The MLA referred to the KIAL MD’s statement that 3,050 metre runway is adequate for the operation of Boeing 777-400 ER and Airbus 330 aircrafts. Mr. Vijayan should clarify whether the government has abandoned the previous United Democratic Front (UDF) government’s stand that the new airport should have a runway of 4,000 metres.
The MLA said that though the consultants appointed by the government proposed the runway length of 3,050 metres to be extended later to 3,400 metres, the previous government had decided to increase the runway length to 4,000 metres in view of the future potential of the airport. Mr. Thulasidas’s statement shows that there was change in the government’s stand, he added.
Mr. Joseph also sought the response of CPI(M) leaders including Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan who had demanded earlier that the runway length should be 4,000 metres. They had alleged that the previous UDF government tried to sabotage the airport’s developmental prospects, he recalled. He said that 80 per cent of the airport construction works had been completed by the end of the tenure of the previous government.
