The Tamil Nadu government will hand over 30.57 acre patta land to the Chennai airport before the month end. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) had urged the State Government to acquire 64.57 acres of patta land and alienation of 11.58 acres of poramboke land.
Chennai airport's mega project
Alienation proposals are under process in various stages. Online applications for transfer of 16.89 acres of defence lands to AAI have been submitted and orders are awaited from the Union Defence Ministry, said the Industries Department Policy Note for 2022-2023 presented by Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasu in the Assembly on Tuesday..
The infrastructure facilities for flight operation at Neyveli Airport are ready and licence from the Director General of Civil Aviation is awaited and flight operations will commence thereafter, the Policy Note said
Meanwhile, on airport expansion projects, the land cost forms the major share of the overall project cost. If the Tamil Nadu government acquires and transfers land to AAI free of cost, and the AAI or the Centre in turn transfers the assets to a third party, the value realised/revenue accrued must be proportionately shared with the State Government. This is considering the huge investment in land made by the State government.
It has also been decided that at an appropriate stage, it has to be ensured that the value of the land should be converted as equity of the State Government in the airport project Special Purpose Vehicle. Alternatively, an appropriate revenue sharing arrangement proportionate to investment is arrived at before any asset transfer takes place to a private party, the policy note said.