Chennai's Second Airport At Parandur Set For Site Clearance This Month

The proposed second airport for Chennai, located in Parandur, Kancheepuram district, is likely to receive site clearance from the Centre this month.

With an estimated cost of Rs 32,704.92 crore, the Tamil Nadu government has planned this facility to handle nearly 100 million passengers.

A senior government official stated, “We will get the site clearance in a month. Then, we will obtain no objection certificates (NOCs) from various departments within the next six months. Details on land acquisition, including all the survey numbers, will be posted by July-August.”

The Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) submitted the application for site clearance for the Parandur airport in January 2023. Since then, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has raised several queries regarding the proposal.

“One of the significant aspects was the obstacle limitation surface (OLS) survey. We have addressed all their concerns, and there are no issues as of now,” the official noted.

Site clearance is the first major approval needed to expedite the development of this greenfield airport.

The Steering Committee, comprising members from the Department of Civil Aviation, Home Ministry, Defence Ministry, Department of Economic Affairs, Airports Authority of India, and Directorate General of Civil Aviation, may meet next week. If the committee approves the airport, it will be presented to the Minister of Civil Aviation, reports The Hindu.

After securing site clearance, TIDCO will need to apply for project clearance, a more elaborate process that will take additional time. It is worth noting that the Ministry of Defence provided a no-objection certificate for the site clearance in December last year.

The project is expected to have an investment-to-return ratio of Rs 100 to Rs 325.

Bengaluru, which ranked fifth in 2008 before constructing a new airport, has improved compared to Chennai, which ranked third in 2008. The current airport at Meenambakkam in Chennai has fallen to the fifth position.

State Chief Minister M K Stalin said that both, the existing airport at Meenambakkam and the upcoming airport at Parandur, would function simultaneously, catering to the rapidly increasing demand in the civil aviation sector.

Thus, similar to Delhi (Delhi and Noida airports), Mumbai (Mumbai and Navi Mumbai airports) and Goa (Dabolim and Mopa airports), Chennai may soon get two airport systems.