CHENNAI: The proposed greenfield airport in Sriperumbudur is mired in land issues, according to Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha.
Speaking to reporters here, the Minister said that the greenfield airport proposal was under consideration and the Civil Aviation Ministry wanted to ensure it had the land. He said his ministry was in talks with the state government over the issue.
A report prepared by the Japan International Cooperation Agency states that the additional airport in Chennai is necessary as passenger demand is expected to surpass capacity in 2020-21.
The peak capacity of 23 million passengers of the Chennai airport is expected to fall short of the rising demand in 2020-21 triggering the need for an additional airport in the region.
The minister said that to operate an airport in the city, nearly thousand acres of land was required which was difficult to procure.
Meanwhile, Sinha announced that the Chennai airport would be one of the global hubs of India along with Bangalore,Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. He said that the Ministry would be categorising airports under global hubs, regional hubs, cargo hubs and feeder airports.
To a query over the feasibility of secondary runway in Chennai airport, he said that he was going to inspect it.
His comments come after the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) directed the Airport Authority of India to respond to a petition from a Chennai resident who alleged that the extension of the Chennai airport secondary runway is a wasteful expenditure.