Officials cite land acquisition problems for the
delay
The project to extend the secondary runway across the Adyar River in
Chennai seems to have nosedived and is awaiting a fate similar to most other
massive infrastructure projects in the country.
The Chennai airport has two runways — the primary one that runs parallel
to GST Road, and the secondary one that runs perpendicular to it.
A note from Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (U.O. Note No.
R1/1363/2006) circulated among local bodies in 2006 spoke of a land plan
schedule for areas to be ‘covered under the proposed airport restructuring and
modernisation’ plan. The proposal included, among other things, creation of a
new runway parallel to the existing one and diagonal to the secondary runway,
and also re-routing a sizeable length of the Adyar River to make way for the
same.
After The
Hindu wrote
about AAI’s plans to acquire land over 600 acres in Anakaputhur, Pammal,
Pozhichalur and Gowl Bazaar areas by demolishing thousands of residential
settlements, it resulted in a prolonged people’s movement with support from
various political parties. With the second runway running parallel to the
existing one being dropped due to public outcry, it was decided to go in for
extension of the secondary runway from its length of a little over 2,000 metres
to more than 3,400 metres thus avoiding the technically challenging and
extremely difficult task of re-routing the Adyar. Nevertheless, the secondary
runway’s extension required a portion of it to be built as a bridge across the
river.
The secondary runway expansion project’s estimate was pegged at nearly
Rs. 450 crore, with the bridge alone requiring around Rs. 425 crore, according
to sources at the Chennai Airport. Work began in 2009 and was to be made
operational by the end of 2011, but even now, despite completion of the
extended runway, there are no signs that it will be made operational soon.
Airport authorities have blamed the delay on making it operational on
account of many reasons, including those pertaining to land acquisition needed
beyond the existing compound wall of the completed portions.
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