The Tamil Nadu government Friday said it would provide 1,457 acres of land, free of cost, for a new international airport in its capital Chennai.

The new airport, which would help make Chennai "India's eastern gateway to the world" according to Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha, would be north of the existing airport in Meenabakkam.

The chief minister announced Friday that the land, mentioned in the letter sent by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel to her, would be made available to the Airports Authority of India at the earliest.

In his letter of April 21, Patel had informed Jayalalitha that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had okayed the Chennai airport project on the basis of her memorandum to him on Sep 16 last year.

It said 1,457.5 acres of additional land would be required on the northern side of the existing Chennai airport.

In turn Jayalalitha sent a letter, a copy of which was made available to the media, to Manmohan Singh and Patel thanking them for clearing the new airport project.

The letter said Tamil Nadu government's decision to give land free of cost and free of all other hassles was to ensure that the project was quickly implemented.

"This will enable the fulfilment of a long felt need" and make Chennai "India's eastern gateway", the letter stated.