CHENNAI: Explaining the importance of establishing a second greenfield airport at Parandur, Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasu on Wednesday said Chief Minister MK Stalin has directed that the project should be implemented without affecting the livelihood of farmers and taking into account the concerns of the people residing in villages around Parandur.
Responding to an issue raised by the Congress, CPM, CPI, PMK and TVK in the State Assembly, the minister gave a detailed account of how the second airport would be necessary in the coming years.
“The places in Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts are filled with a number of water resources and have a large extent of cultivable lands. Field inspection was done for establishing this second airport in 11 places and Parandur was finalised for this project considering its geographical terrain and technical reasons. The people of 13 villages around Parandur told us that they have faith in the government but their livelihood should be protected, the minister said.
Referring to the contention as to why this project is 60 km away from Chennai, Thennarasu pointed out that such new projects in other States in the country are located far from the first airport. In this regard, he referred to the new airports in Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and other places. It would take around eight years to establish an airport. Once completed, the second airport would have an annual capacity of 10 crore passengers, while the existing airport has a capacity of 2.2 crore passengers annually.