TIRUCHY: The Airport Advisory Committee has announced that land required for the first phase of runway expansion would be acquired within a year. A special team headed by a tahsildar would be tasked with the process.
Of the 683.32 acres needed to extend the 8,136-ft runway, the State government issued administrative sanction to acquire nearly 345.62 acres in May 2017. “A special team headed by a tahsildar and comprising 18 revenue officials would be constituted before this month end. Land required for the expansion has been identified in three villages namely Kottapattu, Keelakurichi, and Keelakalkandarkottai,” Tiruchy MP P Kumar informed media after AAC meeting on Saturday.
Though no headway has been made in acquiring the 337.70 acres of defence land required to complete the expansion project, airport authorities said at least the runway could be expanded to 12,500 ft provided that 345.62 acres are acquired currently. “Though it is a tedious process, the State government would initiate steps to acquiring the 337.70 acres of defence land and complete the expansion.” Kumar assured.
District Revenue Officer M Basheer who attended the meeting said adequate compensation would be paid to the land owners during the process. Regarding a query about Uyyakondan Canal passing through a portion of land set to be acquired, airport director K Gunasekaran said a box culvert would be built akin to the infrastructure in place on River Adyar, which passes through the Chennai International Airport.
Gunasekaran further said that a New Delhi based firm has been roped in to prepare project and evaluation report within six months. For the new integrated terminal building at an estimated area of 60,723 sq m, work would start in March next year.
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