The State Cabinet on Wednesday decided to appoint Louis Berger Consulting Private Limited as the agency for carrying out the techno-financial feasibility and environment impact assessment (EIA) of the proposed Sabarimala airport.
A statement issued by the Chief Minister’s office here on Wednesday said the consulting firm had been tasked to complete all the procedures required to get the requisite permission from the Central government and other departments within nine months given to submit the EIA and feasibility reports.
With the appointment of Louis Berger, the State government has taken one more step towards implementing the airport project, disregarding the ongoing dispute over the ownership and possession of the identified land. The State Cabinet took the formal decision to construct a greenfield airport aimed at Sabarimala in lieu of the abandoned Aranmula airport in the private sector. It issued the necessary orders identifying the land required for the airport, besides designating the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) as the nodal agency for locating a suitable consulting firm to carry out the feasibility studies and EIA. The government zeroed in on the Cheruvally estate in Pathanamthitta district for the proposed airport spread over 2,263 acres of land, mostly under rubber cultivation.
