Navi Mumbai Airport update

Mumbai’s second international airport in Navi Mumbai will get further delayed with Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan announcing in the state legislative council that he can’t give a timeline for acquisition of the 291 hectares of land needed more for the project.
“The new international airport at Navi Mumbai needs about 1,160 hectares of land for pure aviation purpose, while 225 hectares are required for other purposes near the airport. Of the 1,160 hectares land required for aviation, 291 hectares are yet to be acquired,” Chavan said.
“In 2006, when the project was proposed, the estimated cost was Rs.4,766 crore, but now the estimated cost has risen to Rs.14,573 crore,” Chavan said. He said 291 hectares of private land has to be acquired yet. “But the government can’t give a timeline. It is our effort to finish this work as fast as possible.”
The chief minister informed the House that the original plan was to build an airport that could handle 40-lakh passengers per year, but now the planned size has been expanded to 60-lakh passengers a year.
Typically, an international airport takes about seven years to get commissioned from the time of basic construction, while the land acquisition takes at least 2-3 years.
This means the project work may start only in 2015 or 2016, and the airport will not be ready before 2023, said officials in the urban development department familiar with the project.
Bhaskar Jadhav, minister of state for urban development, said, “The formula for providing compensation in many projects in Navi Mumbai has been to give 12.5% of the developed land to the owners whose land has been acquired. But now, most land owners are demanding 30% of land, which isn’t possible. We are checking if a financial compensation package can be worked out or giving 22.5% land to the project-affected people can be a solution. No decision has been taken yet.” Many landowners, including farmers, are already agitating against the acquisition drive, and with the general elections just over a year away, most parties have decided to support the farmers’ agitation and other project-affected people who are resisting land acquisition. Indications are that the acquisition process could take a couple of years more.
The airport is expected to reduce the burden on Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, which currently handles about 700 landings every day. The ministry estimates that the capacity of this airport will reach saturation by the end of 2014.