NEW DELHI: In a push to improving amenities for travelers at Chennai airport, Centre has given go ahead for carrying out environment impact assessment report of Modernisation of Chennai Airport (Phase II) by Airport Authority of India.
The project seeking finalization of Terms of Reference (ToR) for conducting environment impact assessment was considered by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) Expert Appraisal Committee (Infra-2) in its meeting held on September 21-22.
“After detailed deliberations on the proposal, the Committee recommended for grant of Terms of Reference for the said project/activity,” said a senior ministry official.
It was recommended that ‘TOR’ along with public hearing prescribed by the Expert Appraisal Committee (Infrastructure- 2) should be considered for preparation of EIA / EMP report for the above mentioned project.
The draft EIA/EMP report shall be submitted to the State Pollution Control Board for public hearing. The issues emerged and response to the issues shall be incorporated in the EIA report.
The Rs 2587 crore project consisting of 1301.28 acres of land involves modernization of old Terminals (T2&T3) and other old terminal.
According to AAI, the passenger capacity after modernization of the Chennai Airport will be 30 million pax per annum. The existing passenger capacity of the Chennai Airport is 10 million Domestic and 4 million international passengers.
The committee was apprised that National Parks Guindy, Forests -- Pulikkuradu, Nanmangalam, Tambaram, Nallur, Vandalur, Pudupper , Water Bodies -- Adayar River, Kuvam river, Chembarambakkam Tank, Sea -- Bay of Bengal, Red Hills Lake are located at a distance of 10 km from the airport.
“The EIA report should study the impacts of all subsidiaries, consequential and lateral developments anticipated as a result of project implementation and draw up a management plan accordingly. It should also conduct a robust analysis of traffic movement in the approach roads and the impacts along with the management plans,” said the committee.
The committee also recommended preparing a note on appropriate process and materials to be used to encourage reduction in carbon foot print, optimize use of energy systems in buildings and details of emission, effluents, solid waste and hazardous waste generation and their management. Air quality and noise modelling shall be carried out for the emissions from various types of aircraft.