Grounded: on Tamil Nadu’s Parandur airport project

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The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK)-led government, in dropping the ₹27,400-crore greenfield airport project at Parandur near Chennai , appears to have considered the opposition to the project without weighing the consequences. The decision follows an electoral promise made by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, who had visited the protesters in January 2025 to express his solidarity. The government says the move is aimed at protecting the interests of farmers and local residents. It has also cited the presence of waterbodies and has alleged commercial motives behind the site selection under the previous DMK government. Notwithstanding these official reasons, all valid to varying degrees, it became clear from the day Mr. Vijay became Chief Minister, on May 10, 2026, that the decision was merely a formality. In fact, much before the announcement, on August 24, work on the project had come to a halt. However, the move is likely to have adverse consequences for Tamil Nadu. The move risks creating a general perception that Tamil Nadu is unstable in its infrastructure policy, which the TVK government should have avoided, given its goal of making the State a $1.5 trillion economy by 2036.

While Mr. Vijay has spoken of identifying a new airport site, his proposal for a Terminal 5 at the existing airport is necessary and welcome. However, it is common knowledge that a greenfield airport will take years to materialise, even with unwavering government attention — the idea for a second airport had been under consideration for over 25 years. At one stage, the Union government had wanted it to be developed on a build, operate and transfer mode. Unfortunately, the project was caught in the game of political one-upmanship between the two Dravidian majors. Meanwhile, Bengaluru and Hyderabad have had new second airports since 2008, despite regime changes. Passenger traffic here has grown at Tamil Nadu’s expense — at an annual average rate of 10% during 2016-26 compared with 2.4% in Chennai. Parandur received the Union government’s final nod in July 2024, after much groundwork. When the State government is not the ultimate authority in airport site selection, it would not be appropriate to attribute motives to the DMK. Land for any mega project has always faced landowner resistance and the TVK regime may experience this while identifying a new site. No development project can take place without disturbing the environment and certain sections of society. Even Amsterdam’s busy Schiphol airport sits over an area that was once a lake. At the existing airport in Chennai, a runway was affected by the severe floods in 2015. What policymakers should bear in mind is the need to balance development and climate change challenges.