THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The work on the world-class terminal of the premier airport of the State would start in the first fortnight of February, almost a decade after the Airports Authority of India (AAI) conceived the terminal project.

The AAI has already awarded the work to the Chennai-based Consolidated Construction Company. The Rs.110-crore work awarded to the company include the new international terminal building and car park.

The representatives of the company arrived in the capital on Wednesday and held discussions with the AAI authorities. "We hope to commence the work in the first fortnight of February and to complete the first phase in 18 months," Airport Director K. Natarajan told The Hindu .

The AAI would set up a separate engineering wing to take care of supervision of the work that is fully funded by the Government. The terminal project is being taken up at a cost of Rs.256.35 lakh. The first phase is estimated to cost Rs.165 crore, including the Rs.99 crore for the new terminal building being constructed on the Chaka side. Of the 48.56 hectares of land needed for the development of the airport on the city side, the Government had handed over 11.15 hectares. The AAI had constructed boundary wall on the land handed over at a cost of Rs.50 lakh. But, some houses on the land handed over had not been cleared. Mr. Natarajan said the matter was taken up with the State Government. The Government had promised to hand over another 37.64 hectares to the AAI soon for completing the terminal project. The three storey terminal building with a floor area of 23,299 square metres, designed by a consortium of three companies, is basically of tubular design. Entrance would be from near the Bharat Tyres on the Chaka-Eenchakkal stretch of the Kazhakuttom-Inchivila NH 47 bypass. The approach road would be 170 metres in length and 30 metres wide to facilitate six-lane traffic. The land for the approach road had been acquired. A bridge would be constructed across the Parvathy Puthanar to connect the approach road to the new terminal. The Government had entrusted the work for preparing the report with KITCO. Mr. Natarajan said the new terminal on commissioning would be able to handle 500 departing and 500 arriving passengers at a time during peak hours with ease. To enable the passengers to check in at any counter, a Common Users Terminal Equipment (CUTE) would be set up. The parking lot of the new terminal would be able to accommodate 575 cars. The existing 3,398-metre-long runway would be used for flight operations. The four parking bays would be linked to the existing runway.

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