Chennai Airport Expansion May Fail, New Airport Tender Expected by End of 2025

It seems that the plans of the State Government to expand the capacity of the current airport in Chennai to 55 million have failed. Due to the lengthy process and higher costs of land acquisition, the plans may not move forward. The government is now focusing more on the new Greenfield Airport expected to be constructed at Parandur.

The current management at Chennai Airport is nothing less than horrible. In the recent past, it has lost major international connections to Dubai and Paris. Air France has halted the Paris route, while FlyDubai has distributed the Chennai capacity between Hyderabad and Kochi.

Chennai Airport Expansion Plans Fail!!

The Airport Authority of India (AAI) was targeting to achieve a yearly passenger capacity of 55 million. However, because of a whopping land acquisition cost, this project has been deemed unsustainable. Tamil Nadu State Govt has dropped its plan to acquire 193 acres of land. Out of this, 133 acres were required for expansion, while the remaining 60 were expected to be utilized to enhance road connectivity. Because of several buildings available in the required land, the cost of acquisition went sky-high, resulting in a dropdown of the expansion plans.

Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), along with AAI conducted a study on six different land parcels to achieve the expansion target, but none could make it. To expand the airport, around 200 acres of private land will have to be acquired as well.

For building an international terminal, the state government wanted 306 acres of land. But TIDCO refuted this plan citing the higher cost of acquisition. A renewed proposal to acquire 138 acres has been presented to the government. Under this expansion plan, the airport authorities were also looking to improve the cargo infrastructure, alongside the road connectivity. But the plan seems to go downhill.

High Hopes With Parandur Greenfield Airport

Now that the expansion plans of Chennai Airport have been limited, the government has increased its focus on the development of Parandur Greenfield Airport. TIDCO is expected to release the tender for the new airport by the end of 2025. With an estimated cost of more than Rs 20,000 crore, the airport would require a total area of 4,563 acres. The land acquisition process is expected to take around 12 months.

Currently, the Lok Sabha elections are going on, and hence, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is live. Once the MCC ends, the airport is expected to receive a site clearance. TN State Govt also needs to receive approval from the Central government. Other than this, environmental clearance is also pending from the Union Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change.

The government has made a seven-member high-level committee dedicated to the development of this airport. This committee recently submitted the report after examining the hydro-geological and other related aspects. Over the past few months, they have been visiting several villages and examining the groundwater, flood levels, and rainfall patterns. An official assured that whatever the recommendation is given, it will be implemented accordingly.

Chennai: Both Airport Will Co-Exist

Similar to the current operations in Goa, the new Greenfield Airport in Parandur and the current airport will continue to co-exist in Chennai. For the land acquisition, the government is providing more than thrice the original market value. As expected, locals are protesting because of the loss of land and earning resources.

Chennai Airport is slowly getting advanced. By next month, the airport will operationalize the DigiYatra system, which allows passengers to seamlessly check-in by using their face as their ID. On May 7, scanning machines arrived at the airport facility. Installation and software loading work is almost completed. This technology was expected to be launched in March, but because of a delay in receiving BCAS approval, the deployment has been postponed.

Conclusion

The expansion plans of the current Chennai Airport seem to fail. With the expected implementation of DigiYatra by next month, the airport will enhance accessibility. The government is now focusing more on the construction of Parandur Airport. Land acquisition is expected to be completed in the next 12 months. By 2025-end, the tender for the new airport will be floated.

When do you think will Parandur Airport be operationalized? Discuss in the comment section.