Louis Berger, the consultant appointed by the State government, has begun the work to carry out the techno economic report for Chennai’s second airport proposed at Parandur.
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Last year, the government announced its decision to build the second airport for Chennai to meet the increasing passenger traffic. With the present airport likely to reach a saturation point soon in terms of capacity and with complaints pouring in from passengers about the congestion during peak hours and lack of hygiene, the government went ahead with its proposal to build a second airport at an estimated cost of ₹20,000 crore and identified 4,790 acres of land in Parandur as the site for the project.
As a first step, in December, Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) decided to rope in a consultant to do the extensive techno economic report for building the airport and assist it with receiving various clearances from different agencies over the course of next few years. Recently, TIDCO awarded the contract for this work to Louis Berger. “The firm has begun the work for detailed techno economic report and they are likely to submit this report in another 6-8 months,” a source said.
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Panel gets details
Meanwhile, a high-level expert committee formed by the government to look into the possible environment issues since the site has several waterbodies too has held meetings.
“At a first step, the Water Resources Department which was entrusted with the job of providing data regarding the rainfall data and pattern in the area, geological conditions and flood level has submitted the details recently to the committee. They will take the next step forward,” the source said.
Be it the master plan for the site, social impact study, environmental management plan and environmental impact assessment, surveys or financial models, the report will be exhaustive and include numerous details, the officials added.