$10 bn aviation park project proposal in Chennai gathers dust

Chennai:

The $10 billion aviation park in Chennai is yet to materialize after three years despite land being identified and the proposal is lying in cold storage with Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, according to India’s top aviation expert and the brain behind Light Combat Aircraft.

Speaking during the 3^rd edition of Tamil Nadu Manufacturing Summit, Dr Kota Harinarayana, who is Dr D S Kothari Defence Research Development Organisation chair Aeronautical Development Agency, said that the aviation park of which partially could be a special economic zone could give a boost to the aviation sector in the country.

Interestingly, Confederation of Indian Industry has identified nearly 1,000 acres of land of which more than 200 acres is located near the airport while another 700 to 800 acres is located near the site of the new airport in Greenfields.

The proposal was to have aerospace university besides being a hub for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) hub for aviation industry.

Harinarayana said the irony is that states like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have aviation park but Tamil Nadu which exports 30 per cent of nation’s auto components hardly has one.

Venkatesh Chandrasekharan, co-chairman of manufacturing task force of Confederation of Indian Industry said that L&T Ramboll, the consultant for the project, has submitted its recommendations to the government besides CII submitting a draft policy to develop the clusters. “The draft policy is with the government and hope the project which was to be inaugurated in this year will get a clearance from trhe government soon,” he added.

Interestingly, there was a lot of speculation whether the project would be cleared and industry heaved a sigh of relief when the government gave a green signal to the development of second airport, said Venkatesh. “We are hopeful that the new government would accord sanction to the project soon,” he added.