Chennai airport expansion delay irks residents

Chennai: It's been three years but the state government and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) are yet to decide whether to build a parallel runway at the existing airport or to construct a new airport at Sriperumbudur.
Three years of indecision has put hundreds of residents to hardship as are uncertain about the fate of their land that has been marked for acquisition for the parallel runway.
The state government notified around 993 acres of land in the villages of Manapakkam, Gerugambakkam, Kolapakkam and Kovur villages for acquisition almost three years ago. AAI does not want to invest any more in the existing airport if the second airport is being built at Sriperumbudur.
The parallel runway project has been put on hold as AAI had said it would not build it if the state government was going to have a second airport on 4,822 acres of land in Sriperumbudur.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has given approval for the second airport at Sriperumbudur. Still, AAI is yet to take a decision whether they want the parallel runway.
In response to a right to information (RTI) application filed by J Parthipan, a resident, AAI has said it has received an approval letter from the ICAO on the second airport but the report was under review and a decision to build a parallel runway was yet to be finalised.
06/05/11 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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Categories: Airports May 2011