Tamil Nadu to shortlist sites for Hosur airport soon

Chennai: Tamil Nadu government will soon shortlist two sites for conducting a detailed feasibility study from the five locations that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) surveyed to house the greenfield airport for Hosur, the industrial town located just outside Bengaluru.

Officials from the AAI and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) visited five locations, including the private airstrip owned by Taneja Aerospace and Aviation Limited (TAAL), in and around Hosur in September to undertake a study. Other locations that were studied include Thogarai Agraharam, Dhasapalli, and Shoolagiri, where the state government is building an industrial park to accommodate more industries that flock to Hosur.

The study was akin to the AAI’s survey of four sites in and around Chennai for developing a second airport for the Tamil Nadu capital. Parandur chosen by the state government for building the new facility was one of the locations suggested by the AAI.

“We have received a report from the AAI on the locations studied by them. The Tamil Nadu government will now hold a series of discussions on each of the sites to discuss their pros and cons. We will shortlist two sites from the five locations. We will then study the two locations in detail to choose one,” a source in the know of the developments told DH.

Once the final site is chosen after due process, the government will move towards carrying out different kinds of studies, including the potential passenger and freight traffic, and apply for obtaining site clearance certificate.

The development comes five months after Chief Minister M K Stalin had on June 27 announced in the Assembly that Hosur will get an airport of its own spread over an area of 2,000 acres to handle about 3 crore passengers a year. The new airport, once commissioned, will have a single runway.

In response to a question raised by DMK MP R Girirajan, the Union Civil Aviation Ministry had told Rajya Sabha earlier this week that a multi-disciplinary team of AAI and TIDCO officials visited Hosur to carry out a pre-feasibility study of proposed sites.

Building the airport in Hosur won’t be an easy task with the concessionaire agreement signed between the Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) that no airport should be constructed within 150 km of the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru till 2033 coming in the way.

However, the sources told DH that the state government will keep in mind the concessionaire agreement while taking decisions with regard to the airport. The government has been in touch with BIAL and TAAL for the past couple of years.

The new airport in Hosur is also likely to cater to people living in many areas of south Bengaluru due to their proximity to the Tamil Nadu town. The Tamil Nadu government’s move also comes close on the heels of Karnataka mulling a second airport for Bengaluru near Tumakuru.

Hosur is home to about 500 big industries and 3,000 MSMEs and now hosts Tata Electronics Private Limited, a key supplier of Cupertino-based Apple Inc and electric vehicle majors like Ola, Ather, Simple Energy, and TVS motor company.