Pannur, a prospective site identified to build Chennai’s second airport, has some advantages over Parandur, the other proposed site, according to a pre-feasibility report.
“It is evident that Pannur site seems to have more advantage over all the other sites. However, a detailed project report has to be done for further evaluation,” the report, accessed by The Hindu, says.
The report, however, adds that both the locations are suitable for the airport, though there are some challenges.
At Pannur, 4,500 acres of land has been identified and at Parandur, the site is spread over 4,791.29 acres. Both places have adequate space for two runways and have airspace availability. The report calculated the time a passenger would take to travel to both these sites. “The average travel distance by road to Pannur will be 49 km and average time taken will be around 1 hour and 26 minutes. The average distance to Parandur will be 73 km and average time taken to travel will be 1 hour and 54 minutes,” the sources said.
A team of experts from Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) inspected four locations — Padalam, Pannur, Tiruporur and Parandur a few months ago, prepared the pre-feasibility report and gave its recommendations. Subsequently, authorities discussed the issues with the State government.
High-level meet
On June 17, a high-level meeting between a State team led by Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasu and Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M. Scindia is scheduled to be held in New Delhi to discuss several key issues, including the site for the city’s second airport.
Sources said there are man-made obstacles in both locations. For instance, in Pannur, there are extra high tension pylons, mobile towers and electrical poles in the vicinity of the site.
At Parandur, high tension towers and mobile towers are seen in and around the site, the report says. “But it is important to note that the impact of such obstacles on the operations is not known yet. We will have to do detailed Obstacle Limitation Surface (OLS) survey for the site chosen. These high tension pylons, towers and the other structures seen are not falling in the approach path from what we have studied so far. But the obstacles can be shifted to other locations after a detailed study is done,” a source said.
Sources said that depending on the site selected by the the State government and Ministry of Civil Aviation, a detailed OLS survey, techno-economic feasibility study and other essential reports will be prepared.
