Tamil Nadu acquiring land for expansion of airports

The Tamil Nadu government is in the process of acquiring land for expansion and modernisation of metro and non-metro airports in the state.
According to a policy note Transport Minister K.N. Nehru submitted in the assembly, the state capital has grown as a hub for manufacturing sectors like automobiles, electronic

hardware and IT and the state has turned out to be an important destination for foreign tourists, resulting in increased cargo and passenger traffic in the Chennai airport.

“Keeping all these in mind the government decided to go for modernisation and expansion of Chennai airport in coordination with the government of India. The Airports Authority of India (AAI), which is undertaking the modernisation programme, has proposed to spend about Rs.1,808 crore (Rs.18.08 billion) on this,” the policy note states.

The Chennai airport modernisation will be completed by 2010, it says.

As many as 126 acres of lands has already been acquired by the state at a cost of Rs.127.06 crore and handed over to AAI.

Among non-metro airports, the state is taking necessary action to acquire 610 acres of land for the expansion and modernisation of Madurai airport at a cost of Rs.68.99 crore.

In addition, action to acquire land for expansion of airports at Coimbatore, Trichy, Tuticorin and Salem as per the master plans have been submitted by AAI.

The state is also taking action for establishing a greenfield airport at Sriperumpudur.