The process of awarding the first engineering, procurement and construction (EPC I) contract for the Kannur airport has entered the last phase, and the work on building the fourth international airport of the State will be awarded to the winning bidder by October-end.
The financial bids of the technically qualified companies will be opened after the Board meeting of Kannur International Airport Ltd. (KIAL) scheduled here for October 17.
The Board will consider the report of an empowered committee, headed by Chief Secretary E.K. Bharat Bhushan, looking into the technical bids, official sources told
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
The five-member committee held its first meeting on October 9 and the study report will be placed before the Board meeting.
The Additional Chief Secretaries of Aviation and Finance, the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister and the Managing Director of KIAL are the members of the empowered committee.
The KIAL Board had cleared the detailed project report prepared by a consortium led by AECOM Asia Pvt. Ltd.
ADVERTISEMENT
The EPC I for the airside include complete earthwork and work on runway, taxiway, apron, ground lighting and associated infrastructure.
KIAL has also begun work on the EPC II to ensure that the first flight takes off from the airport in December 2015.
The request for qualification (RFQ) for the EPC II will be floated in January, and the aim is to award the work by April-May. An integrated terminal building, an air traffic control tower, administrative and technical blocks and facilities in the buildings come under the EPC II.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the State Bank of Travancore have evinced interest in equity. The Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and leading nationalised banks have come forward for meeting the debt component.
The KIAL is fine-tuning the agreements to be signed with the Meteorological Department and the AAI for air traffic management and communication, navigation and surveillance systems.
Close on the heels of providing land to the Air Force and the Navy, KIAL has decided to give land on the airport premises to the Coast Guard. Environment clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests was obtained in July. The government had also cleared the hurdles for acquiring the remaining 313.2 hectares of land.
As much as 480 hectares of land is needed for the greenfield airport.
The airport is coming up in the limits of the Keezhallur grama panchayat and the Mattannur municipality at an estimated cost of Rs.1,130 crore.