The entire project is expected to be ready by end of 2046. This new airport with three terminals will have a capacity to handle 100 million passengers.
Spread over nearly 5,369 acres, a second airport at Parandur has been proposed to take the load off of the existing airport at Meenambakkam.
Second Airport For Chennai
Cost of Project
The total cost of the entire project will be nearly Rs 32,705 crore, with Rs 10,307.3 crore to be spent to build the passenger terminals, according to pre-feasibility project report by Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation.
Completion Date
As per the information available it will take 20 years to build all the four phases of the new airport. The construction of the first phase will begin in January 2026 and is expected to be wrapped up by December 2028. Meanwhile, the final phase is expected to be ready by December 2046.
Area
The airport will have three terminals-
- Terminal 1 (3,45,758 sqm)
- Terminal 2 (4,76,915 sqm)
- Terminal 3 (5,05,495 sqm).
- The cargo terminal and the truck docking area together will be 2,30,500 sq.m. and
- The airport will have two parallel runways (4040X45 metres).
Connectivity with Road, Metro
The plan includes building approach roads to connect the airport site with Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway (NH48). A six-lane Airport Link Road is on the cards to ensure seamless connectivity between the airport and the existing Bengaluru-Chennai NH-48.
This link road is expected to originate at the proposed Airport Expressway (NE-7) drop junction (near the project site) and intersect the existing NH-48 near Attuputhur. The alignment of the Link Road is yet to be finalised,” the report states.
The State government had earlier announced Chennai Metro Rail connectivity to Parandur as an extension to the phase II project.
Environmental Concerns
The proposed airport is facing opposition not only from people whose livelihood will be affected but also from activists as there are serious environmental concerns over building this airport. The site has 26.54 per cent of waterbodies and citing this reason, activists have said that it would not be advisable to construct an airport in this location.
Meanwhile, the hydrogeological report is being prepared by TIDCO to take mitigation measures to prevent environmental issues.
