Chennai airport: Jayalalithaa seeks PM's intervention

By T. S. Shankar

CHENNAI, AUG. 1. The Chief Minister, Ms. J. Jayalalithaa, has impressed upon the Prime Minister, the urgent need to expedite the State Government's proposal to build a second international air terminal at Chennai.

According to official sources, in a memorandum to Mr. A. B. Vajpayee, the Chief Minister has sought his intervention to view this proposed mega infrastructure project as one that would further accelerate economic and industrial activity in Tamil Nadu and send sharp signals overseas to attract more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to the State.

Apart from apprising the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister has asked the four newly elected Rajya Sabha members of the AIADMK to ``pursue the proposal at the Centre for early implementation of the mega project''.

The futuristic joint venture terminal project has been initiated through the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) at an estimated cost of over Rs. 1,100 crores, and envisaged either in the BOOT or BOT mode. The second international terminal has been proposed to be put up on a 3,000-acre site at the Porur end (West of Meenambakkam) of the existing airport.

This proposal which was mooted during the DMK regime and the two Central Ministers, Mr. Murasoli Maran and Mr. T. R. Baalu, lobbied hard with the Centre, to get it launched.

According to sources at the international airports division of the Airports Authority of India (IAD-AAI), as the custodian of the air terminals, the Chennai airport, which handled a staggering 4.1 million passengers at its domestic and international terminal last year, awaits the completion of a Rs. 80 crore exclusive departure block at the Anna International Terminal (AIT) to ease the congestion building up with each additional flight.

At present, the AIT also handles 1.9 million passengers and the Kamaraj Domestic Terminal (KDT) recorded 2.2 million travellers annually, thereby registering a 20 per cent increase in domestic traffic and five per cent in the international traffic. A total of 14 international carriers including both Air India and Indian Airlines operate out of AIT. Work is currently apace to add three more aerobridges to take their total to five.

Chennai hopes to be a major metro in an era of economic growth, but lacks international infrastructure including an airport of world standards. And the proposal to have a new joint venture airport with the TIDCO's participation looks promising with the AIADMK Government also viewing it as an essential venture.

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Section  : Southern States
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