Published Jul 11, 2026 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Jul 11, 2026 | 7:00 AM
The minister said runway construction would not be feasible since the area has nearly 800 to 900 acres of water bodies.
Synopsis: CTR Nirmalkumar said AAI advised the State government against building Chennai’s second airport at Parandur due to the presence of water bodies. But official records cited by DT Next indicate Parandur remained the preferred site after successive technical evaluations.
A news report has put under scrutiny Tamil Nadu’s Energy Resources and Law Minister CTR Nirmalkumar’s justification for the state government’s decision to abandon the proposed Parandur greenfield airport.
A DT Next report said publicly available official records did not support the minister’s claim that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had found the site unsuitable for the construction of the runway because of existing water bodies.
Addressing reporters on Tuesday, 7 July, Nirmalkumar said the government decided against proceeding with the Parandur airport after AAI officials had informed it that constructing a runway at the site was not technically feasible because 800 to 900 acres of water bodies were located in the project area.
Minister CTR Nirmalkumar said the government has decided against going ahead with the Parandur airport plan.
“We consulted AAI officials, who informed us that runway construction would not be feasible because the area has nearly 800 to 900 acres of water bodies. We accepted that assessment and decided to identify an alternative site,” the minister said.
However, the DT Next report cited publicly available AAI and Tamil Nadu government documents which indicated that AAI had identified Parandur as the preferred site following a comparative technical assessment, after which the state government formally finalised the location for Chennai’s second airport.
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The report said AAI’s technical pre-feasibility study, commissioned by the Tamil Nadu government in October 2021, evaluated four locations: Parandur, Pannur, Tiruporur and Padalam.
While Tiruporur and Padalam were ruled out because of airspace and operational constraints, Parandur and Pannur were found to be technically feasible.
The report said the Tamil Nadu government subsequently selected Parandur as the preferred site, citing better connectivity, fewer displaced families, fewer man-made obstacles affecting aircraft operations, adequate contiguous land for future expansion and no requirement for additional land for navigational aids.
The report further noted that the 2024 Pre-Feasibility Report, prepared for securing environmental clearance, reaffirmed Parandur as the selected site after considering factors such as land availability, connectivity, infrastructure costs, airspace and operational feasibility.
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While the environmental assessment recorded that around 1,425 acres, or 26.54% of the proposed 5,369-acre airport site, comprised water bodies, including Nelvoy Eri and natural water channels, the news report said that the document did not conclude that they had rendered the runway construction technically infeasible.
Instead, it identified them as environmental features requiring environmental appraisal, mitigation measures and statutory clearances before project execution.
The report also said it found no publicly available document from either the AAI or the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), concluding that Parandur was technically unsuitable for runway construction because of the water bodies.
The report said the documentary record underpinning the state government’s original decision differed from Minister Nirmalkumar’s claim.
While the official studies acknowledged the presence of significant water bodies and wetlands at the proposed site, they consistently identified Parandur as the preferred location after successive technical evaluations.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
