Meeting to discuss study on ‘dual airport operation'

A meeting to consider a techno-economical feasibility study on ‘dual airport operation' in Sriperumbudur and Chennai will be held here on Wednesday.

It will explore the possibility of operating simultaneously the existing airport at Tirusoolam and a new airport at Sriperumbudur.

Giving the details to

TheHindu , D. Devaraj, Regional Executive Director, Airports Authority of India (AAI), Southern Region, said a six-member team from International Civil Aviation Organisation and Louis Berger Group Inc, USA, the organisation which is to conduct the study, officials from the AAI and State government will attend the meeting.

Mr. Devaraj said later, the team, along with AAI and State government officials, would make a field visit to Sriperumbudur on Thursday and collect data. The AAI had provided Rs.2.5 crore ($5,59,799) for the study, which would be completed in six months.

Mr. Devaraj said the AAI had requested the State government to allot nearly 4,500 to 5,000 acres at Sriperumbudur to create a second airport, which would have two runways besides shopping malls, hotels and other facilities.

Sale of land frozen

Already sale of land in certain blocks in Sriperumbudur taluk had been frozen. Under an earlier proposal, the State government had identified nearly 4,500 acres, spread over 42 villages in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts, for the second airport.

Kiloy, Siru Kiloy, Mambakkam and Vadamangalam in Sriperumbudur block in Kancheepuram district and Thiruppandhiyur, Kottaiyur and Vayalur in Kadambathur block in Tiruvallur district were some of the villages identified for acquiring land for the project.

Earlier, the Civil Aviation Ministry was against proceeding with the idea of a second airport at Sriperumbudur on the ground that it would not be possible to keep two airports operational at the same time given the traffic projections.

The expenditure involved in land acquisition and in establishing a mass rapid rail link between the two airports could not be justified, it was felt.