Navi Mumbai Airport update

The government is considering creating a new township spread over 500 acres (200 hectares) that would be owned by project affected persons (PAPs) of Navi Mumbai International Airport.
The township would be a compensation to the PAPs for surrendering their land for the international airport. Every PAPs will be given back 22.5% of their total holding as developed land. This land will be provided with infrastructure such as roads, drains, open spaces, etc. and will be worth Rs 18-20 crore per hectare, said officials. This is in addition to a job, vocational training, stipend and other incentives. There are 1,200 families that own 651 hectares, which the government needs for the international airport. The PAPs have been demanding 35% of their land-holding back as compensation.
The City Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco), the nodal agency for executing the airport project, on Monday made a presentation to CM Prithviraj Chavan on the compensation package.
Sources said Cidco owns 200 hectares near airport on which it proposes to set up the township. “Today, most of the land owned by the villagers is in the coastal regulatory zone and in effect has no market value as it can’t be developed. What we are offering them is land that is properly developed and in close vicinity to the airport which will bring them huge monetary benefits,’’ said an official.
Sources said a meeting will be held with the PAP representatives to discuss the township proposal. “If they accept it, it will be put up before the cabinet for its approval. The day we sign the agreement with the PAPs, that very day we shall give them their allotment letters,’’ said officials.
The demarcation of plots would take two to three months and the creation of infrastructure would take another 18 to 24 months, said officials. The airport operations are expected to commence in 2015 as per Cidco projections.

Navi Mumbai International Airport update

The Maharashtra state government has made a last-ditch attempt to salvage the proposal for the international airport in Navi Mumbai by urging the Union environment ministry to amend the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Act.Earlier, the central department had amended the Act to allow the construction of an airport in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.The state made a formal appeal to the central environment secretary Vijay Sharma, who was in the city to oversee some projects executed by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco). The request was made after the Centre recently decided to replace the CRZ Act with a new Coastal Zone Management Authority (CZMA) Bill. The Cidco officials want their project to at least take off before the CRZ Act is scrapped and the new Bill is implemented.Deepak Kapoor, joint MD of Cidco said “We have received 16 different inception reports on the airport project, broadly on traffic flow, commercial viability and technical requirements. Soon, the global bid to invite developers for the airport will be floated.’’ The agency has already appointed Louis Berger as the consultants for the Navi Mumbai airport.Cidco has also asked the Centre to categorise the environmental hurdles and their redressal at one go, so that the hearing process can be done away with at the earliest. According to Kapoor, Cidco has already earmarked 150 hectares of land on which they plan to replant mangroves. The state revenue department recently transferred a major portion of the land acquired in Panvel to Cidco for the airport and the agency wants the project to be visible by 2012. Cidco has also received the goahead from the Centre to build the airport, which is estimated to handle up to 40 million passengers instead of the earlier pegged figure of 20 million. The ministry had also directed Cidco to extend the airport area by another 300 hectares to accommodate the huge fleet of aircraft. Decks being cleared Report for the widening of rivers Ulve and Ghadi close to the site is expected soon Tata Power and state power ministry gear up to shift huge overhead cables and towers from the area Four to five hillocks inside the airport area will be flattened Mangroves will be transplanted to 150 hectares of land identified close to the project area Dispute between Navi Mumbai SEZ and Cidco over 100 hectare land in Ulve to be sorted out soon. Both are claiming the land for their own projects .
US agency Louis Berger to prepare detailed project report and masterplan besides bid documents to select strategic partner - 9 months .
Invitation and finalisation of strategic partner for construction - 4 months.
Actual implementation to start - November 2009 .
First phase of the airport, with a capacity of 10 million passengers, to be made functional - 2012 .
Second phase with 20 million passengers - 2020 .
Third phase with 30 million passengers - 2025.
Fourth phase with 40 million passengers - 2030 .