Tamil Nadu: TIDCO Seeks Site Clearance For Chennai's Second Airport From Civil Aviation Ministry

The application for site clearance for Chennai's second airport at Parandur, has been filed by the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) to the Ministry of Civil Aviation's steering committee.

The second airport for Chennai would be constructed at Parandur in the Kancheepuram district, across a land area of 4,791 acres, with two runways.

The search for a consultant to draft a detailed techno-economic report for the new greenfield airport near Chennai is now underway by the TIDCO.

TIDCO has released a request for proposals (RFP) in an effort to hire a consultant to handle a variety of tasks, including creating a detailed techno-economic report that includes a master plan, survey, and financial model and conducting environmental impact assessments with environmental management plans and social impact studies.

The deadline for submitting proposals has been extended to 6 February.

Site clearance and project clearance are essential before beginning work on the new airport at Parandur.

According to The Hindu report, a high-level technical committee will soon look into the concerns of the Parandur inhabitants and environmental experts over the relocation of the residents, the presence of water bodies on this site, and the potential of flooding.

The committee's recommendations will be implemented in order to eliminate water shortages in the communities near Parandur and to prevent floods during rainy seasons.

Action is also being taken to ensure that water bodies do not suffer because of the development of an airport. The project site's water bodies would be interconnected to meet agricultural lands' requirements.

The project area includes the 360-acre Periya Nelavoy Lake, which will be protected and deepened.

Chennai’s Second Airport Near Kanchi

In August this year, the state Chief Minister M K Stalin announced that a greenfield airport would be built in Parandur located around 15 km northeast of the popular Hindu pilgrimage city, Kanchipuram.

The new airport is planned at an investment of Rs 20,000 crore with a capacity to handle 100 million passengers per annum.

Tamil Nadu's Minister of Industries, Thangam Thennarasu, said that the construction of the proposed Parandur Greenfield Airport would be completed by 2028.

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.

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.