Expansion of Chennai airport will be completed by next year

V.P.Aggarwal, (front right) Chairman, Airports Authority of India, inaugurated the walkalator connecting the domestic and international terminals at Chennai Airport. K.Natarajan (extreme left), Chennai Airport Director, is also present. A file Photo: A.Muralitharan.

Expansion and modernisation of Chennai airport would be completed by next year and the government was also taking “necessary action” to establish a greenfield airport, the State Assembly was informed on Thursday.

The policy note of Transport Department, tabled in the Assembly by minister K N Nehru, said that the government acknowledged the fact that the southern metropolis was fast becoming an investment destination and therefore the present modernisation effort.

“The modernisation of the airport will be completed by 2011. Already 126 acres of land has been acquired by the government at a cost of Rs 127.06 crore and handed over to Airports Authority of India (AAI),” it said.

AAI was the implementing agency and it had taken up the work at an estimated cost of Rs 1,808 crore, the policy note said.

Further, the State government was also taking “necessary action” to establish a greenfield airport at Sriperumbudur, an industrial hub near here.

Importance was also placed on developing non-metro airports such as Madurai and Coimbatore and new facilities in the latter will be ready by June as the city prepares to host the International Classical Tamil Conference, it added.