The Hindu Business Line : PM to lay foundation stone for new airport terminal in Thiruvananthapuram

THE Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, will lay the foundation stone for the 20,000-square-ft terminal building at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport in the first week of January.

The terminal building, which has been designed after floating global tenders, will have facilities to handle passengers of two Airbus and one Boeing aircraft at a time.

The Thiruvananthapuram Airport Development Society decided the schedule for laying the foundation of the building at a meeting held on Wednesday. The officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) made a presentation on the proposed new terminal.

The Government has already handed over 27.56 acres of land required in the first phase of the airport development, including the terminal building.

The Managing Director of the Airport Development Society, Mr Gyanesh Kumar, said that steps had been initiated to acquire 120 acres needed for the second phase of the airport expansion plan. The survey for acquiring the land had commenced, he added.

As of now, 4.2 lakh passengers are using the international airport and AAI has estimated that the number will go up to 11.8 lakh in the coming years, as Kerala is emerging as a leading tourist destination in the world.

The acquisition of 27 acres of land for the new terminal building started in 1996, but the process was delayed due to court cases. Interestingly, on June 11, 2000, the then Union Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Sharad Yadav, had first laid the foundation stone for the terminal.