27.11.13

NaMu Airport update

Six of the eight villages which had opposed the compensation package for land to be acquired for an airport here have now agreed to the deal.
Another boost to the project came with the Centre agreeing to remove the land earmarked for resettlement of project-affected persons from the high-tide zone.
The decision was taken at a meeting with the Centre and senior state officials, including chief secretary Jayant Banthia, on Monday in Delhi.
The two villages still opposing the compensation package are expected to agree to it soon as local leaders are holding discussions with them, said senior Cidco officials familiar with the matter.
The airport project, stuck for years over compensation for the land to be acquired, recently saw a breakthrough with most villagers agreeing to a sweetened compensation deal offered by Cidco.
The compensation will now be valued around Rs 17 crore per hectare compared to the current market value of Rs 17 lakh per hectare, said Cidco officials.
The affected villagers will mostly be rehabilitated in a new township called Pushpak Nagar, and in Wadghar and Wahal villages around the project area.
About 80 hectares of land in Wadghar and Wahal, which had come under the high-tide zone under the 2011 coastal regulatory zone notification, has now been exempted from it, clearing the way for resettlement.
Cidco will soon send detailed proposals to the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the PMO on the airport project.
In all, some 1,240 hectares of land under the CZMP, worth about Rs.38,000 crore, had come under the notification. Cidco had said that it would hamper development in the city, which has several mega-projects coming, such as the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link.

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