Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay announced that the Parandur project would not be pursued and that

The Tamil Nadu government has dropped the proposed Parandur airport project. (File photo)

Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay announced that the Parandur project would not be pursued and that an expert team would identify an alternative site for Chennai’s second airport. The government has also proposed expanding the existing Chennai airport, including a new terminal, to cater to growing traffic.

The greenfield airport was planned on around 4,700 acres. The previous government acquired about 1,500 acres, with compensation for agricultural land ranging from Rs 35 lakh to Rs 60 lakh per acre, apart from compensation for structures. Landowners were also offered alternative housing sites measuring five to 10 cents, along with 400 sq ft houses. In 2021, the AIADMK government informed the Centre that four potential sites had been identified for a greenfield airport — Parandur, Pattur, Padalam and Thiruporur. The government also notified the airport project as a special project in March 2026 to facilitate the land consolidation and acquisition process. By then, the total project requirement had been revised to around 5,746 acres, with about 1,700 acres acquired, according to government-related records.

The government will therefore have to examine the legal status of the acquisitions before deciding whether the land can be retained for another public or industrial purpose or has to be returned. CHENNAI: With the Tamil Nadu government dropping the proposed greenfield airport at Parandur, the focus has now shifted to three key questions: what happens to the land already acquired for the project, where will Chennai’s second airport now come up, and how will the existing Chennai airport be expanded to meet rising passenger demand? The proposed airport required a large contiguous parcel of land, including areas with agricultural fields and water bodies. The government’s decision to abandon the project came after concerns over the environmental impact and the difficulty of finding a workable site without affecting large tracts of agricultural land.