TN delegation to meet Scindia for discussions on Chennai's second airport

Chennai, June 16 (IANS) A Tamil Nadu delegation, led by state Industries Minister Thangam Thenarasu, will meet Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in New Delhi on Friday to discuss improvement of aviation facilities in the state with special emphasis on the proposed second airport at Chennai.

Initial studies were conducted by the Civil Aviation Ministry, along with the state Industries Department on the feasibility of a second airport at Chennai, in addition, to present one at Meenambakkam.

A team of experts from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) conducted inspections at four locations - Padalam, Pannur, Tiruporur, and Parandur a few months ago. After the joint inspection, the TIDCO had submitted a pre-feasibility report and had given its recommendations.

Sources, however, told IANS that Pannur and Parandur are shortlisted for the second airport and that Pannur has advantage over Parandur.

The state government has identified 4,500 acres of land at Pannur and 4,971 at Parandur. The average travel distance to Pannur will be 49 km from the city and the time will be 1 hour and 26 minutes.

The average distance to Parandur will be 73 km and the time taken will be 1 hour and 54 minutes.

However, sources said that both the sites have some man-made obstacles including high tension towers, pylons, and mobile towers and a detailed Obstacle Limitation Surface (OLS) survey for the site chosen has to be conducted.