Just eight years after 2015, the terrifying scenes were back, not in a nightmare, but for real: inundated homes; people rescued by boats; floating cars; prolonged power cuts; residents bearing mounting financial losses. With Cyclone Michaung, which ironically did not even make landfall in Chennai, the city was again engulfed by floodwaters. Though lessons from the past stood us in good stead in limiting, to a great extent, the loss of precious lives, the other losses are nearly incalculable. In early December, the typical patterns of flooding and the city’s vulnerabilities came to the fore, and the fault lines were as obvious as the urgent need to address the crisis.
Another constant in the 2015 and 2023 floods was the closure of the airport, one runway of which has been constructed over the Adyar. Not surprisingly, it did spur discussions on what may come to pass if an airport is built on a vast wetland, as the second airport at Parandur is meant to. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence gave the site clearance for this project, and the State government has accorded the administrative sanction.
There are convincing arguments to make out the case that the Chennai airport will soon surpass its capacity for passenger traffic, and it has already fallen behind in freight traffic. But the fear of flooding in Chennai, and its neighbouring areas, looms large if wetlands are to be built over. Of the 5,746.18 acres of land on which the Parandur airport is to be built, 2,682.62 acres comprises wetlands.
Recipe for disaster
Environmental experts call this project a recipe for disaster and say that when it is built, there is a high possibility of the city witnessing a similar or worse crisis.
G. Sundarrajan, of Poovulagin Nanbargal, says, “While unplanned water release from the Chembarambakkam Lake had a disastrous effect on Chennai eight years ago, we witnessed a similar situation this time owing to an array of factors — from missing storm-water drain links to uncontrolled urbanisation in the city.”
If the Pallikaranai marshlands and the Velachery Lake had not been encroached upon, the southern parts of the city might not have been ravaged as much, he argues. “I would say that these wetlands at Parandur certainly contribute to the lowering of the intensity of flooding in the Chennai region. Places like Chennai, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, and Thoothukudi cannot be viewed independently and the impact of monsoon and flooding has a definite ripple effect on the neighbouring districts,” he says.
There are around 4,100 waterbodies in and around Chennai, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, and Tiruvallur. While some of them are in good shape, some others have dried up or encroached upon and some need desilting. If they are cleaned, deepened and restored to their capacity, they can store a plenty of additional water, he adds. “The crucial Kamban canal in the Parandur region links over 80 waterbodies, and disrupting it will significantly reduce the watershed area,” Mr. Sundarrajan adds.
Acknowledging the concerns, the State government formed a hydrogeological committee some months ago. It is looking into how to address these concerns and how to build the airport without affecting the waterbodies. The report is almost ready, and will be submitted to the government shortly. “We are looking into everything — from preserving the channels and waterbodies to deepening them — and we will also take steps to prevent flooding in future,” says a source.
‘Crucial for the State’s economy’
This airport is crucial not only for the city but also for the State as it will have a positive economic impact, officials argue. If the State government lets go of this opportunity, it may not be possible to find large land parcels to build another airport for the future needs, sources say. “We could have had such a worldclass facility more than a decade ago, had the plan to build an airport at Sriperumbudur materialised. The city needs such an airport with excellent connectivity — it will be a great boost to our economy and push our rankings up. More importantly, the present airport is choking and needs better facilities and space to handle future traffic,” another source says.
The city airport has been pushed behind Bengaluru and Hyderabad over the years and has lost the prestigious title of the gateway to south India. From being the third busiest airport, it now occupies the sixth spot. It has lost in terms of connectivity to more cities across the world. Passenger traffic data for November show Chennai stands behind even the Kolkata airport. While the Bengaluru and Hyderabad airports recorded 30.7 lakh and 20.3 lakh passengers, Chennai reported only 17.42 lakh passengers in November. In the last decade, the passenger traffic has grown phenomenally at both the Bengaluru and Hyderabad airports.
“We cannot expand this airport and keep modernising it beyond this point there are physical limitations. We need more bays, better infrastructure, and it cannot be done with the existing space. The city is in need of another large facility,” says an official of the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
The demand has been that the government find another site, one that will not endanger water sources. But that is easier said than done. Officials say a number of factors were considered before Parandur was chosen. The other sites which were earlier considered — such as Padalam, Pannur, and Tiruporur — have several restrictions on flight operations. “If we are to build an airport without affecting any of the waterbodies, we may have to travel all the way to Cuddalore (about 175 km away),” the source says.Both Tiruporur and Padalam would have restrictions on flight operations because of their proximity to the Tambaram Local Flying Area, according to the Government Order. Further, the Chengalpet Firing Range is located northeast of Padalam and west of Tiruporur. This apart, just 5 nautical miles south of Tiruporur is the Kalpakkam nuclear power plant. Finally, when Pannur and Parandur were shortlisted, Pannur had numerous high-tension electric towers and industries near the site. Also, more land had to be acquired at Pannur than at Parandur. “More importantly, the runway orientation was apt at Parandur and wouldn’t be in conflict with the traffic at the Meenambakkam airport,” a source said.
The hydrogeological report has been drafted to resolve the issues flagged by the residents of Parandur as well as environmentalists, sources say.
Plans for waterbodies
The Water Resources Department, whose representatives are on the high-level committee constituted to prepare the report, has made recommendations and suggested alternative plans for ayacut areas and waterbodies and channels that may be affected. Besides alternative routes for floodwater drainage, it has sought to improve the capacity of the waterbodies. This may compensate for the loss of a few tanks. Moreover, a major drain from the Palar anicut may have to be rerouted. The large waterbodies — such as those at Parandur, Thodur, and Maduramangalam — would be deepened to increase their capacity. The channels running on the project site would be rerouted and linked to the waterbodies. For instance, the channels connected to the Sriperumbudur Lake would be realigned along the boundary of the proposed airport. The Kamban canal, which originates in Vellore district and feeds many tanks en route before joining the Sriperumbudur Lake, will also be rerouted.
“But one of the main issues in our system is that seldom do things function and take shape as planned on paper,” says Arun Krishnamurthy, founder of Environmentalist Foundation of India. “The technicalities in the report may suggest mitigation measures to prevent flooding in and around Parandur and Chennai city, but the ground reality and field dynamism are very different when such massive projects are developed. Can we prevent encroachments and violations that most certainly are to happen,” he asks.
If the government is thinking in terms of economical ranking and pushing the city’s image up, one of the ways is to decentralise the economical growth, he says. “Why can’t we think of simultaneously developing Tiruchi or Madurai on a par [with Chennai]? Because if this project ends up exacerbating flooding, as we fear, won’t companies have second thoughts about investing here? Otherwise, we at least need to have an extensive and meticulous plan to redesign the whole city to avoid flooding,” he adds.
Even if mitigation measures are taken in the Parandur region, the primary fear is the rampant encroachments that will mushroom, Mr. Sundarrajan says. The government has envisaged it as an aero city or aero hub. In that case, numerous hotels and malls are likely to come up. “Will someone be able to vouch that these establishments will not violate, encroach upon, and shrink the watershed area,” he asks. Experts say that instead of acquiring land near Parandur and utilising the wetlands, the ideal scenario will be to expand the existing airport further and shift the Officers Training Academy (OTA) to another location. “It may certainly be faster and feasible to shift the OTA to another location and expand the present airport,” Mr. Sundarrajan adds. But sources in the government say it is a very complex issue to move the OTA to another location, and it is not entirely in the hands of the State government.
Water-sensitive urban design
If the project is to be implemented at Parandur eventually, it will be important to build the airport with water-sensitive urban design, say experts.
Kurian Joseph, an environmental engineer and director of the Centre for Climate Change and Disaster Management, Anna University, says, “Not just for the airport alone, it is highly important to plan buildings even around the airport with water-sensitive urban designs, which will ensure that there is a minimal impact on the environment.”
Another challenge is how an air passenger will commute to this distant site. If there is one aspect of the present airport that everyone would be happy about, it is its easy accessibility and location within the city. An airport at Parandur would be a near two-hour ride for passengers from the existing airport. Though the new airport site is close to the Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway, there ought to be a mass rapid transit system for ferrying passengers quickly to Parandur. The State government has drawn up plans to operate Chennai Metro Rail to Parandur by extending the phase II project line from Poonamallee to a length of 50 km. and link it to the new airport site. But it takes at least a few years to establish a Metro Rail line. Unless the government takes it up simultaneously, it could be an exasperating and expensive ride for passengers to Parandur.
Sivasubramaniam Jayaraman, national lead, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, says, “Chennai is at the right stage where the Third Master Plan and Comprehensive Mobility Plan are getting ready and incorporating ways to link transport hubs becomes essential to ease mobility for passengers. While having a Chennai Metro Rail system is important, stakeholders like airlines and airport operator must tie up, allowing passengers to check in their baggage at their nearest station so that the travel is smooth. This apart, there must be excellent road connectivity and dedicated bus services.”
The extreme events of 2015 and 2023 have showed that climate variability can be imminent, inevitable, and extreme. So it is essential to focus not just on constructing a resilient airport but also on investing in a water-sensitive urban design in the aero hub city planned at the greenfield airport site.
Parandur is a large-scale and long-term investment — and from transport to environmental issues, the long road ahead is filled with myriad challenges to which there are no simple solutions.
(With inputs from K. Lakshmi).
