Navi Mumbai Airport

Maharashtra Government’s much-anticipated project, the Navi Mumbai Airport may not be able to start operations by the end of 2019.

According to Civil Aviation Ministry officials, factors such as rehabilitating hundreds of displaced villagers around the construction area and delay in pre-development work may result in the airport opening in 2020 -2021.

The Navi Mumbai International Airport is being developed under a public-private partnership between Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) & City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd (CIDCO).

According to a concession agreement signed by the 2 stakeholders, the construction of the airport is to be completed by 2021. But a large chunk of pre-development work is yet to be finished and authorities say that it is difficult to build a runway and operationalize a terminal building in 16-17 months.

CIDCO is responsible for implementation of this airport project. The project is located in an area spread across 1160 hectares, with a river, a few hills and more than 10 villages in its immediate vicinity.

CIDCO has said that they can complete the 1^st phase by end of 2019, however, many villagers are holding up to receive more benefits from the government to vacate their lands, while some are not ready to move at all.

As a result, a large chunk of pre-development work that includes blasting hills, diverting the Ulwe river, filling up water bodies and leveling of land, is yet to be completed. The ongoing monsoon season has also slowed development work.

CIDCO’s joint Managing Director, Mrs. Prajakta Lavangare, who is overseeing the project says that despite the tight deadline, the agency has been meeting time-defined targets and is inching towards its objective.

She also said that most of the villages have vacated, however, they expect the others to move out by the end of September 2018.

The Navi Mumbai airport, a much-delayed project, was first proposed in 1997 as a secondary airport to support the busy Mumbai airport. Estimated to cost ₹ 3,000 crores, the Navi Mumbai airport received the government’s approval only in 2007.

Credit Rating Agency, CRISIL, has estimated that the cost of construction for Navi Mumbai Airport’s ‘Phase 1’ will be more than what the authorities had initially thought.

Here are all the details about it –

• The construction cost is expected to go up to Rs 13,562 Crore which is almost 50% more than the earlier projected cost of Rs 9,600 crore.
• GVK group, which is constructing the airport, has announced a partnership with Yes Bank to fund the project.
• CRISIL has given an A+ stable rating for the project’s Rs 10300 Crore bank loan.

The planning process for Navi Mumbai Airport started back in early 2000’s, but pre-development work began in June 2017 as the project was stuck due to litigation and land acquisition issues.

The airport is being developed under a public-private partnership model. City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) is the project’s planning authority. In 2012, CIDCO had prepared a master plan for the airport to be developed in four phases, at a projected cost of Rs 16000 Crores.

In March 2018, GVK group had appointed Zaha Hadid Architects, a UK-based firm, to design the airport’s terminal building and air traffic control tower. The plans have been submitted to CIDCO.

According to the agreement between Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) and CIDCO, the deadline for the commercial launch of the Navi Mumbai airport was set in 2021. But, the Maharashtra government is keen to launch operations by December 2019.