E. Sreedharan, the architect of the Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro Rail, will be conferred the 14th A.K. Nair Memorial Award instituted by the North Malabar Chamber of Commerce (NMCC) and the A.K. Nair Memorial Endowment Committee (AKNMEC) at a function here on November 17.
Announcing this at press conference here on Tuesday, AKNMEC chief patron Capt. C.P. Krishnan Nair and NMCC president B. Maheshchandra Baliga said that Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit would present the award at the function to be held at Sadhoo Kalyana Mandapam here at 9 a.m. on November 17. They said that Mr. Sreedharan was being honoured in recognition of his contribution to the successful completion of the metro rail and Konkan Railway projects. They also said that scholarships to children of weavers instituted by the AKNMEC would be presented by Leela Krishnan Nair at the function.
Capt. Nair said that the Kannur International Airport project, a longstanding dream of people in the region, was yet to take off. Nothing had happened since the stone laying function. “The Leela Group was interested in the airport project and we made a financial plan, but because of political pressure [during the term of the previous Left Democratic Front government], we gave up,” Capt. Nair said.
He said if the project had been given to the group, he would have completed the runway by now. It was, however, good to see land acquisition for the airport being revived because of the intervention of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, he added.
He said the Chief Minister should revive the airport project just as he had done the SmartCity project and get the work completed in 18 months. The airport along with the development of the Azhikkal port and the setting up of the proposed Kannur power project would give an impetus to the rapid growth of the district.
He also said that he would have developed the Muzhappilangad beach as a major tourism destination if he had been allotted 100 acres of land on the beach front.
