OREANDA-NEWS. May 5, 2012. The Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited will invest Rs. 170 crore in the proposed Kannur International airport. Minister for Ports K. Babu said in a statement here on Friday that the Corporation had communicated the decision of its director board to subscribe to 21 per cent of equity in the airport project to the State government. The decision followed talks the Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had with the Corporation authorities.

The Minister said that the State public sector units, Kerala Minerals and Metals Limited and the State Beverages Corporation, had already brought equity worth Rs. 5 crore each in the project while the State Financial Enterprises had invested Rs. 10 lakh. Mr. Babu said that of the Rs. 784 proposed to be raised as equity for the project in the first phase, the government had subscribed to 26 per cent and government institutions to 23 per cent. Other institutions with government and private participation had subscribed to two per cent of the equity. The balance (49 per cent) would be offered to the public.

He said that the minimum subscription under the public offer had been reduced to 500 shares from 2001 shares, in deference to public demand. The face value of the shares would be Rs. 100 each. Steps had been taken for the public issue. He said that the Cochin International Airport Limited had already submitted the detailed project report for the Kannur airport. Accordingly, the global tender for construction of the runway would be floated this month. The environmental impact assessment and public hearing would be completed in three months. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had cleared the terms of reference for the assessment in February. Mr. Babu said that the first phase of the project was proposed to be completed in 2014. The inaugural flight would take off in 2015.