Rameswaram airport: AAI submits pre-feasibility report, finds site near Keelakarai feasible

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has found a site closer to Keelakarai favourable for building the greenfield airport at Rameswaram in Ramanathapuram district.

The pre-feasibility report was submitted to the Tamil Nadu government recently, and the site near Keelakarai, near Manikaneri and Mayakulam villages, has been found to be technically feasible for constructing the airport, AAI sources said.

In September last year, the Tamil Nadu government sent a letter to the AAI to examine and inspect two sites — one near Uchipuli and another near Keelakarai. Following this, a joint team from the AAI and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) conducted a field inspection of both sites in October last year.

The site near Keelakarai has a few high-tension lines and waterbodies. When compared to the site near Uchipuli, which has a lot of trees, paddy fields, groundwater wells, and residents, the site close to Keelakarai has lesser obstacles and residents as seen from the initial inspection. The high-tension lines will have to be re-routed should the airport come up at this site, the AAI said.

The pre-feasibility report says the site is about 10 km from the Ramanathapuram Railway Station, 120 km from the Madurai airport and 140 km from the Thoothukudi airport and is a fairly contiguous land. But it is to be noted that the airspace of both sites are in close proximity to INS Parundu, an Indian Naval Air Station, the AAI sources said.

But it is for the State government to decide on which site to build the airport, and this decision may be taken only after the elections.

The next process is for the State government to carry out an Obstacle Limitation Surfaces (OLS) survey, which will thoroughly examine all the obstacles on the site, to ensure safe aircraft operations. Then, as was done for Parandur airport coming up near Chennai, the Tamil Nadu government must apply for site clearance and in-principle approval from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and approvals from other departments such as the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

If approved, the greenfield airport may come up over an area of nearly 600 acres.