Navi Mumbai Airport update

Work on the proposed international airport at Navi Mumbai will have to wait for a while with the statutory green panel, the Forest Advisory Committee, seeking more details about the forest diversion required for the project. The first phase of the airport was slated to be operational by 2014.
Delay in taking up the proposal for diverting 250 hectares of forests for the project is on account of the developer, City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), failing to provide all the requisite information. The proposal will be taken up once all the requisite details have been provided.
The Forest Advisory Committee has asked CIDCO to submit a detailed compensatory afforestation plan, and clarify whether the proposed afforestation will be undertaken separately from the proposed regeneration of mangroves mandated by the environmental clearance.
The project developer has also been asked to submit an approved rehabilitation and resettlement plan, an undertaking to pay the net present value of 250 hectares of forest land and the requisite maps. The forest panel also noted that the status of ownership of the project was not spelt out in the application.
The statutory panel has asked details about clearance from the Standing Committee of the National Board of Wildlife. The proposed airport is within a 10-km radius of the Karnala Bird Sanctuary. The Supreme Court has made it mandatory for projects located within the 10-km radius of a protected wildlife area to get clearance from the national wildlife panel.
Separately, the committee has recommended that the Maharashtra state government provide details on the implications of the Bombay High Court order, which requires that all projects in the mangrove forest area be cleared by it. In January, the high court said it would consider giving permission only after statutory bodies had cleared the project. The state government will also need to take into account the implications of the Supreme Court’s forest-related rulings on the project.
The committee’s decision to hold off its recommendation comes just days after Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan admitted to the state legislative council that there had been a three-fold cost escalation. The Navi Mumbai Airport was initially estimated to cost Rs.4,766 crore. However, land acquisition needs and various other factors have pushed up the project cost to Rs.14,573 crore. Chavan said the first phase would require an expenditure of Rs.9,000 crore. This latest delay could to push up costs even further.