Parandur airport approval: Timeline of events

CHENNAI: The construction of the second airport of Chennai in Parandur is expected to be open for operations within 5-6 years. Around 4,500 acres of land would be used by the State government for the construction that can accommodate about 10 crores passengers and 500 daily flight operations.

Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday said that the Greenfield airport and existing Meenambakkam airport would function simultaneously and the estimated cost of constructing the proposed building is Rs 20,000 crore.

He pointed out that the existing Chennai Airport, which handles 2.2 crore passengers per year, would reach saturation (3.5 crore passengers per year) in the next seven years after the completion of the existing expansion works.

The new airport is expected to improve the connectivity of the Chennai-Sunguvarchatiram-Sriperumbudur-Kanchipuram Highway. It would also extend the Metro rail facility to Sriperumbudur connecting Parandur.

Keeping all these aside, let’s take a look at the estimated time from approvals to construction:

Site clearance

The application proposal for setting up airports in whichever category is directed through a steering committee. The applicant is required to apply for site clearances from the various Departments or Ministries of the Government of India. All these proposals will be submitted to the committee. The Ministry of Civil Aviation which is working as the Secretariat of the steering committee is the responsible body for processing the proposals received by the committee.

Those who are proposing to set up an airport should follow a particular format and submit an application to the committee for site clearance.

The proposal received will be forwarded to the AAI/DGCA for their observation. The AAI will further make a 'site visit' to the particular area.

Based on the observation and approval process, site clearance would be granted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Within three months, the committee would convey its recommendations.

'In-principle' approval

Applications for seeking clearances from the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs, and Ministry of Finance will be submitted in the prescribed format directly to these departments.

Guidelines for granting approval

There are certain guidelines that need to be followed for granting approval, which are issued by the Ministry of Defence.

Grant of License by DGCA

After getting in principle approval, the committee will submit an application to the DGCA for Aerodrome Licence.

Timeline for the approval process

The time taken for the above mentioned process would be overseen by the Union Government to ensure that all approvals and clearances are given in a timely manner.

Site clearance: Within 3 months from date of application

In principle approval: Within 3 months of date of application