CHENNAI: The
state government is yet to give a clear answer on where a
second airport for the city can be built, though it has been two-and-a-half months since the first deadline for it expired on December 31. This is set to delay the project which the
Airports Authority of India (AAI) wanted to implement as early as possible.
Civil aviation secretary R N Choubey, who was at the city airport on his way back from Salem, where he took part in a function to launch Salem-Chennai flight service, said that the state government has not finalised where the airport should come up yet. “Discussions are on. The government is keen to have a second airport,” he said.
The state government had earlier informed the
civil aviation ministry and the AAI that a second airport may not be possible at Sriperumbudur due to high land acquisition costs, and that an alternate location would be selected by December 31, 2017. Following the communication, the government was considering two locations, one in the south near Maduranthagam, and another in the north-west near Gumidipoondi for the proposed project.
However, Choubey added, “It may not be possible to reveal which site the government has indicated as its preference to build an airport.”
AAI has been pushing the state government to take a decision on land for a second airport as it would take five years to conceive and build an airport. The ministry is planning to construct an airport and an aero city in about 1,500 to 2,000 acres of land as the passenger and flight handling capacity of the existing Chennai airport will saturate in a few years.
