Brushing aside the concerns raised by environmentalists, local residents as well as the opposition parties in Kerala and also the Parliamentary Standing Committee, the state government has decided to go ahead with the construction of Aranmula International Airport. Chennai-based KGS group has received an in-principle approval for the Rs2,000 crore project from the Union government. However, according to environmentalists, the construction of an airport at a land that is home to 212 species of plants and 60 species of fishes would devastate the ecology and take away livelihood of several people.
In the Aranmula Airport project, the Kerala government has a 10% stake. The project is to be funded through a debt-equity ratio of 1:1. ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank and State Bank of India (SBI) have funded the debt portion.
The project, spread across 700 acres, met with opposition right from its initial stages from leaders of various streams of society including social worker Kummanam Rajasekharan, poetess-cum-environmentalist Sugathakumari and politician VM Sudheeran. Even, the Legislative Assembly Committee on Environmental Affairs, chaired by CP Mohammed, found the Aranmula Airport Project “highly detrimental to the environment”.
The protesters contend that the KGS Group also intends to construct an airport city or Aerotropolis that requires more than 3,000 acres of land and that such a large project would cause irreparable and devastating damage to the environment and ecosystem at Aranmula.
23/07/13 moneylife.com
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In the Aranmula Airport project, the Kerala government has a 10% stake. The project is to be funded through a debt-equity ratio of 1:1. ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank and State Bank of India (SBI) have funded the debt portion.
The project, spread across 700 acres, met with opposition right from its initial stages from leaders of various streams of society including social worker Kummanam Rajasekharan, poetess-cum-environmentalist Sugathakumari and politician VM Sudheeran. Even, the Legislative Assembly Committee on Environmental Affairs, chaired by CP Mohammed, found the Aranmula Airport Project “highly detrimental to the environment”.
The protesters contend that the KGS Group also intends to construct an airport city or Aerotropolis that requires more than 3,000 acres of land and that such a large project would cause irreparable and devastating damage to the environment and ecosystem at Aranmula.
23/07/13 moneylife.com
