CHENNAI: The State Industries Minister TRB Rajaa told the Assembly on Tuesday that the proposed airport expansion in Coimbatore will begin soon with Centre already given the nod to carry out the works.
AIADMK members in the House had raised a question that the Coimbatore airport expansion works had not started for the last four years after the DMK came to power, Rajaa replied the initial proposal was started by the DMK government in 2010.
“However, when the AIADMK came to power after that, the then State government had not spent any money during their tenure. In 2018, the AIADMK government sanctioned only Rs 75 crore for the project. A year later, it allocated Rs 184 crore, which was increased to Rs 572 crore. But, nothing happened to expand the airport,” he recalled. “But, when DMK came to power, we allocated Rs 1,185 crore for the project. The current estimation was Rs 2,088 crore.”
When AIADMK members blamed that the Centre and the State could not finalise the expansion project, Minister Rajaa said that the land was acquired for the project and the Centre had also given its permission. “Even tenders have also been floated for the construction works, which will start soon,” he stated.