Kannur airport project: Wayanad, Coorg to gain prominence

KANNUR: Dreams around Kannur airport are taking shape in north Malabar. The boost to rail and road linkages that the airport project will entail has made the trade bodies buoyant.
According to Kannur MP K Sudhakaran infrastructure links between Mattanur and Thalassery hold the key to development in the region. “I am making all efforts to convince the authorities about its importance.The discussion about development projects in the region has turned alive once the government took up the airport project seriously,” he said. \ The trade body in the region, North Malabar Chamber of Commerce (NMCC), believes that the development of infrastructure sector and the airport would hot up the tourism sector and benefit Kannur, Kasaragod and Wayanad. “The tourism sector is unexplored. The airport will result in arrival of foreign tourists to destinations such as Wayanad and Coorg,” said K Vinod Narayanan, president of NMCC.
The export industry in the region will also find its way to a larger market through the Kannur airport. “The annual revenue of Kannur from exports is Rs 1,000 crore. Once the airport becomes a reality, the revenue will double in a couple of years,” said C Jayachandran, industrialist and vicepresident of NMCC. Now major buyers prefer export houses in Mumbai and Delhi because of the poor connectivity of the region. “Time is a major factor in business and airport will help in addressing this,” he said.
Like the private players, the government departments too are betting big on the airport project. “The airport will bring more investors in the hospitality sector to Malabar,” said K Bhaskaran, deputy director of the department of tourism in Kannur. The department of tourism has already formulated many plans to facilitate private investors to set up hotels and resorts in the region.
“As a facilitator of the infrastructure development in the tourism sector, the department would call a meeting of the investors to develop properties,” Bhaskaran said.
Though it would take a couple of years for the airport to become a reality, people are game for it already.