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Chennai to get its second airport at Parandur
Chief minister MK Stalin on Tuesday said a greenfield airport will come up at an estimated cost of ₹20,000 crore.
It’s official now that Chennai will get a second airport in Parandur, 59 km from the existing airport.
Chief minister MK Stalin on Tuesday said a greenfield airport will come up at an estimated cost of ₹20,000 crore. “It’s imperative for Chennai to have a new airport to meet its demands, attain our goal of becoming a one trillion USD economy and make Chennai the best destination for investments in Asia,” Stalin said.
The second greenfield airport would have an annual capacity of 10 crore passengers, while the existing airport has a capacity of 2.2 crore passengers annually. The number in the latter could go up to 3.5 crore at the end of the ongoing expansion work.
“The existing airport will meet its full capacity soon,” said a state government official wishing not to be named. “The new airport should take at least 7 years to be operational, including a couple of years for paperwork.”
Kapil Kaul, CEO and director of Centre For Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) Advisory, said: “The new greenfield airport in Chennai is critical for the economy of Tamil Nadu and entire south India.”
“The significant delay is discomforting, but hopefully we can make up by fast tracking the project. We don’t even estimate the cost of this delay. The next steps should include building multi-modal infrastructure to the airport and this should be part of the overall plan. The current airport infrastructure should be maximised as it will take the new airport around 7-10 years to be operational.”
The Parandur airport site near Sriperumbudur in Kancheepuram district is estimated to be spread across 4000 acre which will have two runways among other amenities. The final plan estimate will be known only after preparing the detailed project report (DPR).
The existing and the proposed airport will both function simultaneously, the chief minister said. Approval for the Parandur site clearance will be sent to the ministry of civil aviation soon. Following the approval, the land acquisition process will begin.
“The implementation of the project by the DMK government would be a stepping stone for the state’s growth…,” the chief minister said in a statement. He said these were part of the efforts to take forward the “Dravidian model” of growth of the DMK, where the state’s development will be compared to international standards in the future.
Talks for a second airport for Chennai began in 1998 given the volume of passenger and cargo which was growing. But it was revived only early this year. Stalin said four sites were selected out of which the Airports Authority of India (AAI) recommended two –Parandur and Pannur as more feasible. AAI had then forwarded the Pre-Feasibility Report to Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Limited (TIDCO) advising it to carry out Obstacle Limitation Surface (OLS) survey.
Last week, industries minister Thangam Thennarasu had reportedly conveyed the state choice of Parandur during a meeting with union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
On Monday, union Minister of state for civil aviation Gen VK Singh (retired), in a reply in Rajya Sabha to DMK MP Kanimozhi NVN Somu, announced that the second airport will come up in Parandur.
“After comparing the viability and feasibility including the presence of habitations and industrial establishments and the land acquisition cost of both the sites, the state government has shortlisted Parandur site as the location for development of greenfield airport. As per the provisions of the GFA Policy, 2008, the state government is now required to submit a proposal to MoCA for grant of ‘Site Clearance’ for the finalised site,” the union minister said.
