Pune’s new airport must learn from Kochi's success

By- Dhairyashil Vandekar

The entire state has been keenly following the developments surrounding Pune’s upcoming

airport

at Purandar. The chief minister has promised a state-of-theart airport that will be based on some of the world’s best.

But one of the best examples of a world-class greenfield airport is the Cochin International Airport (CIA) at Nedumbassary — about 25 km from Kochi. This airport is known across the world as a trendsetter in aviation infrastructure development. We hope Pune’s new airport will outdo CIA, but even replicating its best features will result in a world-class airport at Purandar.

Cochin International Airport Limited

, or CIAL, owns the Cochin International Airport. CIA is the first greenfield airport in the country funded by public-private partnership and it was built at an incredibly low price of just Rs 300 crore. It is also the first airport in the country not built by the Airports Authority of India.

The Kerala government holds 32.42% equity and the rest is held by 18,000 investors from 36 countries. Notably, CIAL has been paying dividends to its investors since 2003-04. It paid 25% dividend in 2015-16 and 2016-17 with the dividend payout almost touching Rs 180 crore.

In 2017-18, CIAL handled more than one crore passengers and had an average movement of 188 aircraft every day, making it the seventh largest airport in India. As many as 25 airlines operate from this airport, which employs more than 7,500 people.

The airport also has everything a world-class airport needs — a wide apron area; aerobridges; a modern cargo complex with adequate facilities for perishable cargo; high-tech security and surveillance systems; and effective links with public transport. In fact, by 2020, solar-powered boats will be ferrying tourists from CIA to Marine Drive, a picturesque backwater stretch in Kochi.

The airport was built after acquiring 1,253 acres from 3,824 landowners and 822 households. The project faced protests — similar to what’s happening in Purandar today. But the resettlement options won over landowners.

Special schemes were introduced for landowners, who were offered negotiated rates for their properties that were more than the market rates. Several attractive rehabilitation benefits were also offered to landowners who agreed to give up their land, including a developed property of about 2600 sqft free of cost. CIAL also created livelihood opportunities for evictees. They were provided jobs with CIAL. The company even trained them in areas such as aircraft rescue and fire fighting at the cost of Rs 1.5 lakh per person.

But the focus on clean energy was breathtaking.

Cochin International was the first airport in the world to operate entirely on solar energy. Solar plants have been placed over the car park and on concrete pillars across a canal. These panels can produce about 1.2 lakh units of power every day. CIAL plans to generate 100 MW of power by 2020 from solar and hydro energy units. Over the next two decades, this airport will also avoid emissions from coal-fired plants. That is as good as planting three million trees.

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