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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 had, in a written reply in Rajya Sabha, said 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, apron and a cargo terminal, Stalin said in the release on Tuesday.
Chennai airport annually handles around 2.2 crore people. After the ongoing modernisation work it can handle 3.5 crore people a year for the next seven years, he said.
Minister Singh said the State government should submit a proposal to the civil aviation ministry for ‘site clearance’ for Parandur airport.
Under the Greenfield Airports (GFA) Policy, 2008, the respective State government or an airport developer is responsible for the implementation of an airport project, including its funding.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) forwarded the pre-feasibility report to Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Ltd, advising it to carry out an ‘obstacle limitation survey’ and charting work at two identified sites. After comparing the viability and feasibility, including the presence of habitations and industrial establishments, and the land acquisition cost for both sites, the State government shortlisted Parandur, the Minister said in the reply.
Last month, there was a series of meetings in New Delhi between the civil aviation ministry and the Tamil Nadu government over the identification of the site.
With Chennai airport’s traffic set to grow annually at 15-20 per cent, a greenfield airport will be required in 7-8 years, which is the time needed to build a greenfield airport, said an industry official.
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