The foundation stone for the 80,000 sq m modern terminal building of the Kannur international airport, near Mattannur, will be laid on Saturday at a time when 25 per cent work of the 3,050 m runway and airside works have been completed in a record time.
The ‘swing’ facility, which will enable the use of the terminal for domestic operations when there is no international flight and security clearance first as in the T2 terminal in Mumbai, will make the airport terminal unique in the State, Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL) additional project engineer and coordinator K.S. Shibhu Kumar said.
The integrated terminal building, that will have a double skin aluminium roofing system and a host of modern amenities, will be able to handle 2,000 domestic and international flyers during peak hour.
Green building concept has been adopted in the building that will have energy efficient LED lighting.
A city side 750 m flyover, pedestrian bridge linking terminal and car park, 16 escalators, four conveyor belts, 17 elevators, 48 check-in counters, 32 emigration counters, 16 customs counters, and access control are the other features of the terminal.
Work scheduleThe work, awarded to L&T Construction Building and Factories at a cost of Rs.498.69 crore, would be completed in the next 22 months, Managing Director of KIAL G. Chandramouli told The Hindu here.
The KIAL has prepared a road map for the trial landing of the first aircraft in the fourth international airport of the State in December 2015 and the full-fledged flight operations from May 2016.
The airside works comprising the runway, taxiway, apron, compound wall, and platform development works carried out by the transportation infrastructure division of L&T at a cost of Rs.694 crore is in full swing.
A Communication Navigation Surveillance (CNS) Air Traffic Management agreement will soon be signed with Airports Authority of India who is an equity partner in KIAL.
The financial closure is in final stages with Canara Bank and South Indian Bank bringing the debt component of about Rs.700 crore. The total cost of phase I of the airport is Rs.1,892 crore.
