• Home
• /
• World

Navi Mumbai airport to be operational by 2019: Chief Minister

Almost 20 years after it was first proposed, the Navi Mumbai international airport project has finally cleared all the hurdles, with the Maharashtra government claiming that all clearances are in and the airport will become operational by 2019.

According to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is pushing ahead to execute ambitious projects that have stalled for years in Mumbai and Maharashtra, all the environmental, land acquisition and defence-related issues have been sorted out.

The first plane will fly from the new international airport across the Mumbai harbour by 2019, he assured the state legislative council. Of course, a major challenge for the government will be to ensure that the much-delayed trans-harbour link between Sewri and Nhava-Sheva also become operational by the time the airport gets ready. The trans-harbour link has been on the planning boards since the early 1980s, but successive governments in the state have failed to push for its execution over the past 35 years. The link is essential for the success of the new airport, as it would cut travel time from and to Mumbai. According to Fadnavis, the government has already acquired nearly 600 hectares of land and less than 100 hectares need to be bought from the local residents. The proposed airport will be spread over 2,268 hectares of land near Panvel.

Some of the villagers had refused to let go off their land for the project, though the government had convinced many to surrender it. The government has also offered them a record compensation of Rs140 million a hectare.

Since the proposed airport is close to the coast, the government had to get environmental clearances from the union environment and forest ministry. And since it is also close to Mumbai’s naval base, the defence ministry’s clearance was also necessary.

The new airport, estimated to cost about Rs150 billion (about Dh8.7 billion), will be taken up on a public-private partnership basis. While state-owned Cidco will be the nodal agency, the private partner will have a controlling stake.