Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (Tidco) has submitted a site clearance application to the Steering Committee under the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) for the Parandur greenfield airport. This was stated by Tidco in response to a query raised in a pre-bid meeting to elaborate if the site has been selected and if all statutory clearances have been secured.
In August 2022, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation VK Singh said, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, that the State government should submit a proposal to the civil aviation ministry for “site clearance” for the Parandur airport.
To a query on the ownership status of the site and the size of the site selected for the airport, Tidco replied that the State government has identified around 5,000 acres of land in the Parandur location near Chennai for the development of Greenfield Airport. Lands are to be acquired, Tidco said in the meeting. In December 2022, Tidco issued a tender to select a consultant for the preparation of a detailed techno-economic report for developing the Parandur airport.
An investment of ₹20,000 crore is being planned to develop a greenfield airport at Parandur, 60 km from Chennai airport, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said in a release. This comes after Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation VK Singh said, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, that the State government had shortlisted Parandur for a greenfield airport.
The Parandur airport would annually handle 10 crore people; it will have two runways, terminal buildings, taxiways, an apron, and a cargo terminal. 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.