Why is the Parandur airport project facing opposition? | Explained Premium

Chennai's second airport project at Parandur faces opposition from villagers, farmers, and environmentalists due to environmental concerns.

The story so far: More than three years after its announcement, the second airport project for Chennai at Parandur is finally inching closer to its final approval. The Minister of Civil Aviation Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu who visited Chennai on February 27, said that the in-principle approval is likely to be accorded within the next two weeks. However, villagers, farmers and environmentalists have been persistently opposing the project for last three years.

Also Read: Farmers to gherao Assembly on April 15 if Parandur airport project is not dropped

A proposal to construct a new international airport for Chennai city was floated first in 1998. In the same year, then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi wrote to the Prime Minister seeking to speed up the proposal for building a second airport in the city. Subsequently, a site near the south of Meenambakkam was identified and the State government mulled on constructing it under the Build-Own-Operate and Transfer (BOOT) concept. In 1999, the city got close to getting the airport as the Centre approved the international airport proposal at ₹2,000 crore. In the next couple of years, the State government went on to earmark 1,457.5 acres of land just north of the present airport at Meenambakkam. Some changes occurred and by 2007, a massive airport over 4,820 acres of land with four runways was planned at Sriperumbudur. But the project failed to take off.

Now, the Tamil Nadu government has finally decided to catch up on lost time and in 2022, Parandur was chosen as the site for Chennai’s second airport. The ₹29,144 crore Parandur airport will come up in four phases with three terminals and two parallel runways over 2,172.73 hectares of land and will have a capacity of handling 100 million passengers.

As soon as the project was announced, a section of the population was disappointed at the government for choosing a site replete with several waterbodies, and the threat it could pose for the environment. Residents of 13 villages who will be displaced due to the project and farmers staring at giving up their lands and an uncertain future started protests almost immediately. Residents of one of the villages, Ekanapuram, which will be severely affected by the project, resolutely continue to hold protests every evening, till today, recording over 950 days of protest. Environmentalists have strongly advised against implementing the project as 26.54% of the site comprises wetlands. Experts pointed out how Chennai city, which has grappled with floods on multiple occasions, could bear a serious brunt of inundation should this project become a reality. The Kamban canal in the Parandur area connects numerous water bodies and disturbing its natural course could cause a serious cascading effect on the city during the monsoon.

Due to the protests and increasing criticism, the Tamil Nadu government constituted a committee and a hydrogeological report was submitted. This report suggests ways and means to mitigate flooding. However, the report has been kept confidential and not been made public by the government as yet, adding to the concerns.

Land acquisition for the project and a series of surveys mandated by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change are underway now. But one of the major challenges that lies ahead for this project is receiving the environmental clearance due to the presence of vast amounts of wetlands in the site. If the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Limited receives this approval by the end of this year or early next year, then, post land acquisition, the construction of the terminals could start. The government looks to complete the first phase and have the terminal up and running before the end of 2028.