Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 17 (IANS): Small investors can apply for equity in Kerala's newest international airport at Kannur which will be ready by 2013, a minister said Monday.

"The board of directors of the Kannur Airport that met in August has decided to reduce the minimum amount of subscription of small investors from the earlier decided Rs.200,100 to Rs.50,000," K. Babu, minister for excise who is also in charge of aviation in the state, informed the Kerala assembly.

The Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL) company has already been registered and the Rs.1,200 crore airport would be built under a public-private initiative in an area of 2,000 acres near here at Mattanur in Kannur district.

The foundation stone was laid during the previous Left government headed by V.S. Achuthanandan.

"The present shareholding pattern that has been cleared by the board of the airport would be 26 percent for state government, 23 percent for Kerala's public sector organisations, two percent for state government companies and 49 percent for small investors and institutional investors," said Babu.

The country's first airport to be built in public-private partnership was the Cochin International Airport, that began operations in the 1990s.

With Kannur, Kerala will be the only state in the country to have four international airports, with the other two at Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.