Kochi, Jan 31 (IANS): Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will lay the foundation stone for the construction of a brand new Rs.8 billion terminal of the Cochin International Airport Sunday.

The 1.5 million square-foot terminal is expected to be ready in 30 months, and would be three times bigger than the existing one. It will have the capacity to handle 4,000 passengers in an hour, according to the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL).

"The new terminal, with an elevation that would remind one of Kerala temple architecture, will have international standards," CIAL managing director V.J. Kurian told reporters here Friday.

The construction is being done by Larsen & Toubro, and the two-level terminal will have provision for 112 check-in counters, in-line baggage screening facilities, 100 immigration counters, duty free shops of 30,000 square feet at departure and arrival lounges, 19 boarding gates, 15 aero bridges, six baggage conveyer belts and fully covered alighting and boarding areas.

CIAL, the first airport to come up in the public-private partnership mode in the country, opened in 1999.

Today it handles 181 international aircraft movements and 232 domestic aircraft movements in a week, besides handling 11,000 passengers a day.

Incidentally, all those who invested money in CIAL have got their money back by way of dividends.

Last fiscal, 17 percent dividends were declared, and the state government received Rs.16.78 crore as its share.

The airport has an investor base of 11,000 individual investors from 30 countries, and the total paid-up capital of the airport is Rs.306.06 crore, of which the Kerala government has invested Rs.98 crore.