Chennai will have a greenfield airport at Parandur at an estimated cost of Rs. 20,000 crore and the existing airport at Meenambakkam and the new one at Parandur will function simultaneously, said the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in a press statement issued on Tuesday.
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The new airport at Parandur will have terminals that can handle 10 crore passengers a year, two runways, taxiways, apron, cargo and various other facilities, Mr. Stalin shared. According to the press release, the final cost will be arrived at, after the preparation of a detailed project report.
Based on the Centre’s Guidelines of Greenfield Airports, the site clearance will be submitted to the Ministry of Civil Aviation. After getting an approval from them, the State will take steps to begin other measures such as land acquisition and preparation of a detailed project report. Following this, the State will approach the Centre for the 'in-principle' approval for this project.
Since the existing airport can handle only 2.2 crore passengers a year and after the phase II expansion work is completed, the airport's passenger handling capacity will grow to a maximum of 3.5 crore a year in the next seven years, the State government has chosen a site building a new airport.