Parandur airport may get ‘in-principle’ approval by February

Chennai’s second airport project at Parandur is likely to get the ‘in-principle’ approval by February next year.

As the air traffic and passenger traffic is rapidly progressing in other metro cities like Bengaluru and Hyderabad, there is a significant focus on the second airport planned for Chennai city at Parandur at a cost of Rs 29,144 crore to improve connectivity and traffic here.

After the State government made its decision to build the second airport for the city in 2022, steps were taken to first get the site clearance for the Parandur airport. It came through in July 2024 after which Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) applied for ‘in-principle’ approval in the last week of July this year. “We understand that there are no issues with the application as of now. We should be able to receive the ‘in-principle’ approval by February 2025,” a source said.

Once this approval comes through, it will allow TIDCO to float tenders for commencing the construction for the first phase of the project. The Parandur project coming up over 2,172.73 hectare of land area is proposed to be taken up in four phases.

“The land acquisition process has been steadily progressing as of now. The initial set of notifications have been issued, and we are making headway with the other procedures as well simultaneously. We are also working on the rehabilitation project to move the residents to neighbouring areas eventually, but this will take quite some time,” another source said.

Meanwhile, with respect to getting the Environment Clearance for the project, work is underway to carry out two studies — Environment Impact Assessment and Environment Management Plan, officials said. These two are among the numerous other reports that the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change has sought from TIDCO for grant of the Terms of Reference (ToR).

Published - November 25, 2024 12:17 am IST