Concept and leadership, persistence and consistency is the key
Concept and leadership persistence and consistency is the key, be it a startup or small business, your vision, your focus will lead you
Have you visited the Cochin International Airport?
The world’s first airport to operate solely on Solar Power?
Many hands in the making of Airport but one man’s persistence and consistent approach has to be appreciated, who took on multiple challenges. Starting from finding a location, land acquisition, fund mobilization, designing it was a herculean task.
Shri VJ Kurian’s CIAL (Cochin International Airport Limited) model was a path breaking moment in the history of civil aviation in the country. It was one of the most sought after model for infrastructure development.
25th May 1999, 25 km northeast of Kochi City Centre, CIAL was declared open by His excellency Sri. KR Narayanan, the Hon’ble president of India in presence of the CM of Kerala Sri. EK Nayanar and Governor of Kerala Sri . Sukhdev Singh Kang.
1980’s saw the Gulf Boom and to rise of international travelling passenger who otherwise used Mumbai (Bombay) Airport. As on March 2022 international sector passengers rose by 142% and the domestic sector grew by 63%. The total passenger traffic was around 47.6 lakh nearly double compared to 2020-21. The airport operates three passenger terminals and one cargo terminal with a total area of over 225,000 square meters (2,421,880 sq. ft.)
In 1936 there was a small air strip on Willingdon island which was built by Kingdom of Kochi used for transport of officials developing Cochin Port. Then came the British who saw it a strategic point to check possible air raids of Japan. On merger of this kingdom of Kochi with India. The India Navy operated the airport. Since NAA (National Airport Authority) expressed their inability to fund airport owned by Indian Navy, the Union Civil Aviation Minister Mr. Madhav Rao Scindia, advised Kerala State Govt to identify a suitable location.
The proposal for the airport was estimated at INR 1 billion and expected date of commission was 1997. They foresaw the funding to come from NRI’s, donation from Industry’s, co-op society’s, exporters and a loan from the State Govt. CIAS (Cochin International Airport Society) was formed and registered in 1993 under the Chairmanship of the then CM of Kerala State Sri. K Karunakaran as the Chairman and Mr. VJ Kurian as the Managing Director. The first donation of Rs.20,000/- came from Mr. Jose Maliackal an NRI based in Germany. Office space was provided by the Great Cochin Development authority at a minimal rent. The first major contribution came from Shri C.V. Jacob, chairman of Synthite Group an amount of INR 25.0 Lakhs. The target plan was to collect 200 Cr from general public as interest FREE loans a lock in period of 6 years, but finally what they could collect was only 4 Cr. Being a society it had its limitations hence, in 1994 a public limited company CIAL was formed for administrative convenience with an authorized capital of INR 900 million.
A core team was formed for CIAL but mobilization of fund wasn’t coming easy. The land acquisition had already begun. A reputed US consultant was appointed for the designing and his estimate of INR 500 Cr upset all calculations. A rollback was impossible and Kerala State Govt. was reluctant to fund at this stage. Kurian wasn’t ready to accept the huge consultant FEE for designing, hence roped in a local consultant KITCO who had no previous experience. With the support of the CIAL core team they completed the project in 1/5th of the cost. Few other stumbling block were the land acquisition, religious places, overhead electric lines, local unions. In 1997, 2300 landowners and 872 families were resettled under a rehabilitation package. Irrigation canals, electric lines had to be diverted
In 1996 under the leadership of Sri E.K.Nayanar who took over the chairmanship of CIAL the project got a thrust forward… Read the rest of the story here
