A 27-year-old plan for a new international airport in Chennai is struggling to take off

The project, sitting on a vast expanse of wetlands, is now awaiting environmental clearance and conducting various surveys mandated by the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry.

Chennai remains one of the few Indian cities with an airport close to its bustling centre. That might seem like a great advantage, but as air traffic increases, the scope for adding runways and terminals is limited by space constraints. There is simply no land for expansion without demolishing residential buildings. Evidently, the only alternative to displacing thousands of families was to build a second international airport for Chennai.

As far back as 1998, the idea took shape as it was felt that the current airport would reach a saturation level in 2035. But after identifying three different locations in 27 years, the Tamil Nadu government still finds itself faced with opposition from landowners and environmentalists.

Though there is hope this time with the Union Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu saying recently that in-principle approval from the Union government can be expected in two weeks for the new airport in Parandur, protests by villagers against acquisition of their lands only intensified. They have been agitating for 950 days ever since Parandur was finally selected for the greenfield airport project three years ago.

A feasibility study was conducted and a report was presented by the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Limited (TIDCO) to the state government. But the government has not released the report in the public domain yet. This too has added to the doubts in the minds of the people.

In 1998, under the then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi the state government decided on a land south of the current airport in Meenambakkam and it was considered to be executed on Build-Own-Operate and Transfer (BOOT) concept. In 1999 the ₹2,000 crore project was approved by the centre. In the following years the government also identified 1457.5 acres of land north of the current airport. However, acquisition of land has been a challenge for the government.

In 2007, plans changed and a huge 4820 acre airport with four runways in Sriperumbudur was envisaged by the Karunanidhi government. But that too did not take off.

Three years ago, the MK Stalin government revived the plans for the new airport and embarked on identifying the land. In 2022, the state government identified Padalam, Thiruporur, Pannur and Parandur in Kanchipuram district for the proposed greenfield airport.

The Airports Authority of India shortlisted Parandur and Pannur. The Tamil Nadu government opted for 4970 acres of land, spread over 13 villages in Parandur for the location of the new airport. The ₹29,144 crore project is expected to handle 100 million passengers. It is proposed to be completed in four phases. Alongside, the government also proposed an extension of the orange line of Chennai Metro from Poonamallee to Parandur at a cost of ₹107.12 billion. Last year the Chennai Metro Railway Limited suggested extending the current airport line to Poonamallee in an effort to connect the two airports.

The greenfield airport in Parandur, 70 km from Chennai, with three terminals and two runways, if it takes off, will be on fertile agricultural farmlands with several waterbodies. Not only the residents of the 13 villages are insecure about displacement and losing their livelihoods, the environmentalists are concerned about adverse effects like flooding, as 26.54 per cent of the project would be on wetlands. Experts also point out that the danger to the already flood prone Chennai would only escalate. In Parandur, the Kamban canal connects the waterbodies in the site and also a stream in Ekanapuram village connects to Kosasthalaiyar river that flows through north Chennai and drains into Bay of Bengal at Ennore Creek. The fear is also that more than 13 villages would be swallowed by the project as infrastructural developments like hotels will follow once the new airport is completed.

Protests began immediately upon announcement of the Parandur airport project, especially by the residents of Ekanapuram, which would be most affected by the project. Protests are becoming more aggressive by the day with some political parties backing them.

Following protests, the state government constituted a committee and a hydrogeological report was submitted in March last year, which is yet to be made public by the government. The report, according to reports, analysed various scenarios and challenges that the airport project would face and gave recommendations on how to avert them, along with solutions for the people’s concerns.

The report suggests the largest waterbody, Nelvoy Eri, in the southern region of the site be utilised for rainwater harvesting; cross drainage structures to be created for natural flow of rivers; building culverts and other measures to maintain natural drainage; etc. The effort was to retain as many waterbodies as possible, but some have to be closed.

The project, sitting on a vast expanse of wetlands, is now awaiting environmental clearance and conducting various surveys mandated by the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry. If the clearance comes through by early next year, construction of terminals would start as soon as land acquisition is done. The government has been in the process of acquiring land since a year ago and wants to complete the first phase with the terminals up by 2028.

Even as the protests are becoming aggressive, the Tamil Nadu government is hard pressed to assure the villagers that the project is in the interest of the people. It promises that everyone's interest would be taken care of. But for those who live off their land, and have no other sources of income, the prospect of parting with their land seems like an impending catastrophe.