M A I N   N E W S

Green hurdle goes, Navi Mumbai airport on track
lJairam okays project lM’rashtra govt kickstarts work
Vibha Sharma & Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service

New Delhi/Mumbai, Nov 22
The Navi Mumbai International Airport is ready to take off and that too right away as the much-delayed development project has been accorded clearance by the Environment Ministry, albeit with some riders.

After months of tussle between his ministry and Praful Patel's Civil Aviation Ministry, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh today gave a green signal to the airport, which saw many dramatic twists and turns since November 1997 when the Centre first came up with the idea of a second airport for country's financial capital. The smiling trio of Ramesh, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and newly appointed Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan addressed the media jointly at Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi to break the news that differences over the Rs 8,722-crore project had been resolved.

Former CM Ashok Chavan also found a mention in credits rolled out by beaming Ramesh, Patel and Prithviraj Chavan. "Ashok Chavan has played a major role," they all chorused. After the environment clearance, all that project proponent City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) now has to do is take permission from High Court of Bombay for cutting of mangroves and get clearance under Forest Conservation Act, which, Chavan said, will be done by next week. The green signal, however, comes with as many as 32 riders, including resettlement of displaced persons and development of mangroves around the site.

Chavan said around 3,000 families will have to be relocated and expeditious steps were being taken to rehabilitate them. Both sides have agreed to several concessions with Ramesh admitting that the biggest compromise he made was agreeing to Navi Mumbai as the site for the airport. "From the environmental point of view, agreeing to Navi Mumbai as the site for the airport has been the biggest compromise," he said. But there have also been some winning points for Ramesh. The clearance comes with conditions that 678 hectares of mangroves will be developed in and around the project site and river Gadhi will not be diverted along with 30 other conditions to minimise environmental impacts. However, a 90-metre high hillock will be razed to clear the approach to runway. Around 98 hectares of mangroves, albeit of low quality, will be sacrificed in the area where runways are being built.

Positives are while before the project the site had 161 hectares of mangroves, by the time airport gets going there will be 678 hectares of mangroves. "By this standard it is a hugely positive accomplishment. It is a four fold increase in the area of the mangroves in Navi Mumbai," Ramesh pointed out.

On the civil aviation side, concessions, include shifting of non-essential airport facilities and development of 245 hectares of 'good quality mangrove park' by CIDCO in its place

The project will be developed through public-private partnership mode in which the private party will hold 74 per cent stake, while CIDCO and AAI will have 13 per cent stake each. Expected to be completed by 2014-15 in four phases, the airport will cater to 10 million passengers in its first year of operations, which would double to 20 million by the year 2020. By 2025 the number of passengers handled by the new airport is projected to go up to 30 million before peaking at 40 million by 2030.

It will add 25,000 direct jobs and equal number of indirect jobs in first phase. Ultimately it will generate around one lakh direct and equal number of indirect jobs.

The PMO has been closely monitoring the progress in building the second airport as the existing Mumbai airport is likely to exhaust its capacity of handling 40 million passengers a year by 2013.

With the Environment Ministry giving a go-ahead, CIDCO officials have kickstarted work on the project. They said a blueprint for the proposed airport would be ready by the New Year. CIDCO officials say the new airport will be a state-of-the-art facility that would be linked to Mumbai city by road, rail and the sea. While road and rail links still exist, CIDCO has ambitious plans to ply catamarans and hovercrafts from different points along Mumbai's coast to Panvel creek located adjacent to the proposed airport. Meanwhile, Ramesh has written to the Maharashtra Chief Minister to develop the Juhu airport as a green lung for Mumbai. "Juhu airport should be created as green lung for Mumbai metropolis," he added.

Also, with the taking off the Navi Mumbai airport, the Mumbai trans-harbour sea-link is also back on the radar.

The trans harbour link has got environment clearance, Patel said, suggesting that it could be implemented along with Navi Mumbai project. Planning for the Nhava-Sheva-Sewri sea link started in 2004. However, the project has ben lying in limbo and the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is still to lay a single brick for the 22-km sea link between Sewri and Nhava-Sheva. 

The Big Plan

z The construction of the airport will be undertaken in three phases. Airport will cater to 10 million passengers in its first year of operations, which would double to 20 million by the year 2020.

z The new airport will be a state-of-the-art facility that would be linked to Mumbai city by road, rail and the sea.

z While road and rail links still exist, the government plans to ply catamarans and hovercrafts from different points along Mumbai's coast to Panvel creek located adjacent to the proposed airport.