Parandur airport project likely to be delayed by a year, land acquisition poses a challenge

The Hindu

a day ago

Chennai's second airport at Parandur may be delayed by a year. Sources said, land acquisition poses a major challenge and is one of the primary reasons for the delay of the project.
'The plan was to float the tender shortly. But we need to have a substantial amount of land in possession to go ahead with the tender. Since Ekanapuram residents are not participating, and the runway itself is coming up there, land acquisition is going to be delayed significantly and as a result, tenders too cannot be floated now,' a source said. Though the Tamil Nadu government commenced the land acquisition recently and some people came forward to hand over their land parcels for the project, a massive portion still remains to come in possession of the government.
Originally, the Tamil Nadu government estimate was to complete the land acquisition by October 2025 and start the groundwork for the project by January 2026. This way, phase I will be finished by December 2028. But now, if tenders itself are going to be floated only next year, then the project completion date will be pushed by a year to December 2029 or early 2030.
It is to be noted that the Steering Committee's meeting for obtaining the Environmental Clearance is slated to be held by the end of this year and they already had the Tamil Nadu government to provide for a series of reports before that. But sources said, Environment Clearance too may come through only next year.
One source indicated that more ground-level data is needed to complete the study required to be submitted to the Steering Committee for Environment Clearance. And this can be done only if the consultant is able to enter Ekanapuram and collect the data. Another source said, the State government is chalking out plans on how to carry out the measures to preserve the water bodies as recommended by the Water Resources Department and also the Hydrogeological Report.
For the Parandur airport project whose cost is Rs 27,400 crore for all four phases, the State government will need 5,369 acres in about 20 villages in Kancheepuram and Sriperumbudur.