MoCA has not received any proposal for greenfield airport at Hosur under Greenfield Airports Policy: Minister

In September 2024, a multi-disciplinary team comprising officials from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and TIDCO visited Hosur to conduct a prefeasibility study of four sites for the development of a Greenfield Airport. The study report was shared with the State Government. “However, no proposal under Greenfield Airports Policy has been received in MoCA for construction of a Greenfield Airport at Hosur,” he said. The minster was replying to queries raised by Rajya Sabha MP R Dharmar, who wanted to know whether the Government has undertaken any survey of areas having high potential for airport infrastructure in Tamil Nadu.

In June 2024, Tamil Nadu Chief MK Stalin said that the State government plans to build a greenfield international airport in the industrial town of Hosur, bordering Bengaluru, on nearly 2,000 acres. This is in addition to the Parandur a greenfield airport in Kanchipuram district at a cost of ₹20,000 crore, for which land acquisition is going on in full swing. The Hosur airport will have the capacity to annually handle around 3 crore passengers, he then announced in the Assembly. While the State government is pushing for the Hosur airport, the Centre had clarified that as per the present clause it was within 150 km of the Bengaluru airport and that till 2033 a new airport cannot be developed.

The Centre has formulated a Greenfield Airports (GFA) Policy, 2008 for development of new Greenfield airports in the country. As per the policy, if any Airport developer including the State Government desires to develop an airport, they are required to identify a suitable site and get the Prefeasibility study conducted for construction of airport and submit a proposal to the Central Government for ‘Site Clearance’ followed by ‘In-Principle’ approval.

In August 2024, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) granted Site Clearance approval for development of a Greenfield airport at Parandur, Kancheepuram District to the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Limited (TIDCO). Thereafter, application for grant of ‘In Principle ‘ approval has been received from TIDCO. The responsibility of implementation of airport projects including financing rests with the concerned airport developer including Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the respective State Government (in case the State Government is the project proponent), the minister said.

At present, there are six operational airports in Tamil Nadu, including three international airports at Chennai, Coimbatore and Tiruchirapalli, one Customs Notified Airport at Madurai and two domestic airports at Salem and Tuticorin.

In Tamil Nadu, AAI has undertaken modernization of Chennai Airport, construction of ATC tower cum technical block at Tiruchirappalli Airport and the development of a new terminal building along with the extension of the runway and allied works at Tuticorin Airport. The completion timeline for airport projects is dependent on multiple factors, including land acquisition, regulatory clearances, removal of obstacles, and financial closure by the respective airport developers, the minister said.