The greenfield airport at Parandur near Chennai is closer to becoming a reality as the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation gets the site clearance from the Centre.

The Steering Committee on Greenfield Airports has recommended for grant of Site Clearance to Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) for developing the Greenfield airport at Parandur, Kancheepuram District. This was recommended on July 9, said Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu in a written reply to a query raised by Tamil Nadu Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament P Wilson.

As per Greenfield Airports (GFA) Policy, 2008, TIDCO submitted an application to the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) for grant of ‘Site-Clearance’ to develop the airport at Parandur, about 60 km west of Chennai.

The proposal has been examined in consultation with Airports Authority of India (AAI), Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Ministry of Defence/Indian Air Force as per GFA Policy.

After completion of the consultation process, the proposal was placed before the Steering Committee on Greenfield Airports and the same has been recommended for grant of Site Clearance to TIDCO for the development of Greenfield airport at Parandur, Kancheepuram District, Tamil Nadu on July 9, the minister said.

The responsibility of implementation of airport projects including funding of the project, land acquisition and resettlement and rehabilitation rests with the concerned airport developer - TIDCO in this case, the minister said.

An investment of ₹20,000 crore is being planned to develop a greenfield airport at Parandur, which would annually handle 10 crore people; it will have two runways, terminal buildings, taxiways, an apron, and a cargo terminal.

The Chennai airport handles around 2.2 crore people annually. After the ongoing modernisation work, it can handle 3.5 crore people a year for the next seven years.

The Ministry of Defence had also granted No Objection for the grant of site clearance.

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