Dropping new airport could cost Tamil Nadu 10 years: Annamalai warns CM Vijay

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay’s decision to scrap the proposed greenfield airport at Parandur has triggered sharp reactions from the Opposition, with political leaders warning that abandoning the project without an alternative site could significantly delay Chennai’s second airport and hurt the state’s growth trajectory.Joining the debate, former BJP leader K Annamalai on Monday urged the government to expedite the identification of a new site, warning that any further delay could set Tamil Nadu’s development back by at least a decade.Reacting to Vijay's announcement, Annamalai said the government should have proposed an alternative site along with its decision to scrap the Parandur project. He warned that any further delay in identifying a location could set Tamil Nadu's development back by at least a decade."Parties may come and go. Governments will change. But 20 years later, when the people of Tamil Nadu look back, they should not feel suffocated by a sick building that we would still call an airport, because the administrators of the day lacked the ability to forecast," Annamalai said in a post on X. Annamalai said the cancellation of the Parandur project represented an "opportunity cost" that the state government needed to carefully consider. He pointed out that even if the government takes an administrative decision soon to develop a second airport at another location, identifying the site, obtaining approvals from the Centre and statutory bodies, issuing tenders, acquiring land and securing licences could take at least 10 years before the airport becomes operational."Meanwhile, other states would be advancing, leaving us behind," he said. The former state BJP chief, who recently launched his own outfit, also argued that Chennai's existing airport was already inadequate by current standards and that the need for a second airport could not be deferred."Chennai was once the gateway of South India. Today, Chennai airport ranks fifth in total passenger-handling capacity, with a capacity of 30 million passengers per year. Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad are above Chennai on this table," he wrote on X.Against this backdrop, Annamalai urged the Tamil Nadu government to “accelerate the process of identifying a suitable location for the 2nd airport in Chennai at the earliest”, warning that any delay in site selection could push the project well beyond 10 years.IRREVERSIBLE SETBACK FOR TAMIL NADU’S GROWTH: STALINFormer Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, under whose tenure the Parandur airport project took shape, also criticised the decision to drop it, saying it would set the state’s development back by several years and calling it an “irreversible setback” for Tamil Nadu’s growth."The announcement made today by the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu to drop the Parandur International Airport project will set the State’s development back by several years. Tamil Nadu’s interests cannot be mortgaged for petty political considerations,' Stalin said.Stalin said a world-class airport in Chennai was "absolutely essential" for a state that leads in sectors such as electronics exports and automobiles."Rejecting such a vital project is not change. It is a massive disappointment," he said.According to the DMK leader, Parandur had been selected after carefully considering all available alternative sites, and he claimed that land acquisition was almost complete. He said several stages of preparatory work and approvals had also been completed."If the new government now starts all over again, identifies another location and goes through the entire process before work can even begin, Tamil Nadu's growth trajectory itself will DROP," he added.CHENNAI GROWTH FACES HURDLE: EX-INDUSTRIES MINISTERTamil Nadu Industries Minister TRB Rajaa also slammed the decision, calling it a move that would hurt Chennai’s growth prospects. The DMK leader described it as an "extremely sad day" for the state and warned that the decision could create a serious hurdle for the city.Rajaa said years of planning for a dual-runway greenfield airport had been “sacrificed at the altar of politics” and claimed investment promotion agencies in neighbouring states would welcome the decision."Chennai’s growth and that of Tamil Nadu’s will now face a serious hurdle," Rajaa said, adding that the state urgently needed a world-class international airport capable of handling large aircraft, with two operational parallel runways of more than 4,000 metres."I find it extremely difficult to believe that the very officers who worked so hard on this project supported this decision. They know better than most that there is no better alternative option given the environmental and aviation concerns," the former minister said.BJP HITS OUT AT VIJAY’S DECISIONTamil Nadu BJP chief Nainar Nagendran also questioned the TVK government’s decision and urged Chief Minister Vijay not to halt the state’s development for political gains."Don't stop the development of Tamil Nadu for your political gain, Chief Minister Mr Vijay," Nagendran said.Questioning the decision to drop the Parandur project before selecting an alternative site, Nagendran asked why the government was in a hurry to abandon the project without clarity on where the new airport would be established or whether a proposal had been submitted to the Centre.He said selecting a new airport location would require fresh studies covering Chennai and surrounding areas, passenger traffic, aircraft requirements, demand and several other factors.Nagendran also sought clarity from the TVK government on whether efforts to secure a new airport for Tamil Nadu would now be delayed further."The questions remain the same for the TVK government: What is the answer to the problem of getting a new airport for Tamil Nadu? Please reply," he said in a social media post.VIJAY SCRAPS PARANDUR AIRPORT PROJECTEarlier in the day, Vijay announced in the Assembly that the Parandur greenfield airport project, which had faced strong opposition from farmers and local residents, would be abandoned and that an alternative site would be identified for Chennai’s second airport.The Chief Minister said the government stood firmly with the affected communities and would not allow the airport project to disrupt local communities.Vijay said nearly 55 per cent of the land identified for the Parandur project comprised crucial waterbodies and wetlands, making runway operations highly unsafe and creating a serious risk of flooding.The Chief Minister said the state was not opposed to development and would actively pursue an alternative location for Chennai’s second airport. The new site, he said, would be selected after detailed technical feasibility studies and would be one where there was no public opposition.“Considering the needs of the growing Chennai metropolitan area, passenger convenience, industrial development, and to increase freight transport, a need has arisen to establish a new airport. The site selected for constructing the new airport should be chosen in a manner that does not significantly affect farmers or displace a large number of residential areas,” he said.Vijay also announced plans to establish a fifth terminal on the north-western side of Chennai International Airport at Meenambakkam to increase its annual passenger-handling capacity by an additional 20 million. Once ongoing work on the third terminal is completed, the airport is expected to handle 35 million passengers annually.The Parandur airport was conceived as a large-scale secondary airport for Chennai and its rapidly expanding suburbs. The project was initiated by the previous DMK government in 2022 and envisaged an investment of around Rs 27,400 crore to develop the airport across more than 5,700 acres spanning 13 villages in neighbouring Kancheepuram district.However, the project faced sustained opposition from local farmers, landowners and villagers, particularly residents of Ekanapuram. Environmental groups also joined the protests, with residents claiming that the project would displace around 2,500 villagers and farmers and severely affect their livelihoods.The project also faced technical concerns. Assessments by the Airports Authority of India reportedly found that around 800-900 acres of the earmarked land comprised wetlands and waterbodies, raising concerns over the site’s suitability for runway construction.- EndsPublished On: Aug 24, 2026 14:40 IST