'Meenambakkam, Greenfield airports to function simultaneously'

CHENNAI: Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday said the Greenfield airport and existing airport in Meenambakkam would function simultaneously and the estimated cost of constructing the proposed Greenfield airport at Parandur near Sriperumbudur is Rs 20,000 crore. A day after the announcement from the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Chief Minister said that the estimate would be finalised after preparing the DPR (Detailed Project Report) for the project.

Stalin said that the proposed airport with the capacity to handle 10 crore passengers per year would be developed with two runways, terminal buildings, taxiways, apron and cargo terminal besides maintenance and other required infrastructure.

He said that the current estimated cost of construction of the greenfield airport was Rs 20,000 crore.

Adding that application would be made soon with the committee functioning under the union civil aviation ministry to obtain site clearance for the finalized site in accordance with the Guidelines for Greenfield Airport released by the civil aviation ministry in 2008, the CM said that the land acquisition and preparation of project report for the greenfield airport would be taken up after obtaining the site clearance. Subsequently, the in-principle approval and permission for operation of the airport would be obtained from the union civil aviation ministry.

Pointing 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, Stalin said that it has been planned to operate the existing airport (Meenambakkam) and new greenfield airport simultaneously. Stalin also added that it is imperative for Chennai to have a new airport to meet its demands, attain the State’s goal of one trillion USD economy and make Chennai the best destination for investments in Asia.