Ashwini Phadnis

New Delhi March 21 A clear picture on the route to be followed for modernising the Chennai airport is likely to emerge in the next 10 days with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister scheduled to meet with officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation on the issue.

``The meeting is scheduled for early April and will provide us an opportunity to get a view on the thinking of the State Government on the project. If the State Government provides the land then the airport will be restructured in the same fashion as was done in Delhi and Mumbai," senior Government officials told Business Line.

The Government, however, is clear that if a greenfield airport is built, then the existing airport will have to close down as the traffic in the city does not merit two airports.

Officials refused to speculate on whether there has been any change in the State Government thinking since December last year when the issue was discussed at a meeting between officials of the Center and the State. At the time, it was felt that a modernisation programme should be undertaken at the existing site instead of constructing the airport at two sites jointly identified by the State Government and the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

The meeting concluded was of the view that an earlier recommendation made by Scot Wilson Kirkpatrick, consultants appointed by the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, should be taken up for modernising the airport.

One of the reasons why the Kirkpatrick proposal may be preferred over other options is because it does not require any diversion of the Adyar river, which would not only be technically difficult but also time consuming, sources indicated.

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