While commissioning the Kannur international airport on December 9, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan threw in a casual remark the opposition was quick to term as 'mean'. “During 2011-2016 some follow-up measures were carried out,” the chief minister said, virtually trivialising Oommen Chandy government's role in the development of the airport.
However, the replies given by the chief minister himself in the assembly right after he took over in 2016 shows that the 'follow-up measures' the UDF government carried out were substantial. In one of his replies, to a question by CPM member James Mathew, the chief minister said the government of V S Achuthanandan, during whose tenure the work had begun in earnest, had done two things.
Achuthanandan's contribution
One, it had acquired 1,270 acres of land for the purpose. (The total land required for the project was 2,200 acres. The rest of the land, around 750 acres, was acquired during the UDF tenure.) Two, it had laid the foundation stone. The second answer was disputed by the UDF. They said the stone was laid not for the project but for the perimeter wall of the project.
Foundation stone puzzle
To establish their argument, in July 2016, UDF members K M Shaji, Manjalamkuzhi Ali and Parakkal Abdulla wanted to know when the contracts were given. The chief minister in his reply said the contract for the runway and airside activities were given to Larsen and Toubro for Rs 694 crore in 2013, November 5, during the UDF tenure. The contract for the construction of the terminal, and air traffic control and flyover were given to the same global conglomerate for Rs 498.7 crore in 2014. “How can the foundation stone be laid before deciding who the contractor for the project is going to be,” asked Sunny Joseph, Congress MLA from Kannur.
Another answer given in the assembly, an earlier one given by the then UDF minister K Babu, lends further credence to the UDF stand. Just after the UDF came to power in 2011, CPM member E P Jayarajan had asked what more was required to make Kannur airport a reality. Babu had listed almost everything from runway and taxi track to electrical substation and approach roads. This was further evidence that during V S Achuthanandan's time work on the airport had not gone much beyond land acquisition and the initial work on the perimeter wall.
However, it was the chief minister's reply to a set of questions raised by Congress MLAs Sunny Joseph and K C Joseph that strengthens the suspicion that the CPM was purposefully downplaying the role of the UDF. The MLAs essentially asked about the status of the Kannur international airport when the LDF government took over. The question was asked on June 28, 2016, just a month after Pinarayi assumed office.
Oommen Chandy's contribution
In the chief minister's own words, the distance of the runway that he had inherited was 3,050 metres. Fact is, the runway of the newly-inaugurated airport is not a millimetre more. By then many other works, too, had been completed: 20 aircraft parking aprons, the parallel taxi tract, two runway link taxis, four apron link taxis, a perimeter wall of 18 km, and an operation wall of 4 km.
Besides, Pinarayi said 85 per cent of the air traffic control building was completed. Around 75 per cent of the fire stations were completed. The terminal building was 50 per cent complete. The 150-metre flyover was 90 per cent complete. The electrical supply was 95 per cent complete, and the water supply connection was fully done. The car parking and isolation bay were 50 per cent complete. The baggage handling system was 60 per cent over. According to the chief minister, the only components that were less than 50 per cent complete were storm water system (35 per cent) and approach road (20 per cent).
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