Navi Mumbai International Airport
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This article or section contains information about a planned or expected new airport. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change as the construction and/or completion of the airport approaches, and as more information becomes available on it. |
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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (April 2007) |
| Amchi Mumbai International airport for bhai loogs | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| IATA: none – ICAO: none | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Operator | CIDCO | ||
| Location | Amchi Mumbai, India | ||
Proposed New Amchi Mumbai International airport is a new international airport, which is to come up at Kopra-Panvel area, is being built through public-private partnership (PPP) — with private sector partner getting 74% equity while Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Govt of Maharashtra (through City and Industrial Development Corporation or CIDCO) holding 13% each.
The land required is about 11.4 km² for the core airport activity and will have two parallel runways each 4500 metres long. It is to be located on highway NH 4B near Panvel, about 35 km from the existing Sahar International Airport in Mumbai. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has already given techno-feasibility clearance to the Navi Mumbai airport.The Airport construction is at global tendering stage [1]
The cost of the project, which is being developed through the public-private partnership route, is estimated at between Rs 3,200 crore and Rs 4,000 crore. The airport will have a terminal area of 250,000 m². and a cargo area of 100,000 m² and handle 50-55 million passengers annually..[2]
The location of the proposed airport at Navi Mumbai has been considered on several parameters. Prominent among these is the fact that Navi Mumbai is expected to absorb the future growth in population, business and commercial activity of the region. The availability of physical and commercial activity of the region. The availability of physical and social infrastructure coupled with environmental friendly size with least resettlement and rehabilitation makes the Navi Mumbai airport project technically and financially viable.
The site of airport is located in an area of 9.5 km² accommodating two parallel runways for simultaneous and segregated parallel operation with provision of full length taxi ways on either side of the runways. The airfield has been designed to accommodate the new large aircraft compatible to aerodrome code 4-E.
Navi Mumbai International Airport will support the rapidly growing air travel needs of Mumbai Metropolitan Region. It is expected to absorb annually 4.5 million passengers in its first operational year and will be doubling it to 8.2 million in three years time. It will be able to absorb 13.7 million by 2020 and 30 million by 2030.
The Navi Mumbai Airport is proposed to be developed through public-private participation. For rapid, successful implementation of this major, vitally needed project, a Special Economic Zone, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, Thane-Belapur and Taloja industrial area and the huge catchment area ranging from Pune to South Mumbai-would assure a steady growth rate in traffic at the new airport, thus assuring steady revenues to the investors. In addition the project opens-up state vast interland rich in agriculture, floriculture, high-tech high value industries to world market making airport to act as focal point for emergency of a trans-shipment centre in Asian region.
[edit] Controversies
Although there is an urgent need for an additional International Airport for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, a deadline has yet to be fixed for construction to begin. The CIDCO's[1] official website states that it will handle 10 million passengers in its first operational year 2012,(previously the CIDCO website stated as 4.5 million passenger in its first operational year 2007) and land acquisitions have still not been completed. Villagers and land holders at the planned site of the airport are unhappy with the compensation paid to them by CIDCO. The site also presents environmental problems in dealing with mangroves and storm water drains in Panvel. There is an NGO fighting government agencies regarding Panvel.
As of April 21st, 2008 [2] The Union environment and forest ministry’s refusal to grant clearance to Mumbai’s second international airport has put a question mark over the project’s ability to meet deadline. In March, the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) refused permission to Navi Mumbai international airport.
Sources told Economic Times (ET) that the efforts made by the civil aviation ministry and Maharashtra government to get the project approved by MoEF have not yielded a positive result. With the infrastructure at the existing international airport under immense pressure to cater to growing air traffic, even a minor delay in getting the new airport commissioned could prove costly for Mumbai, sources said.
If the environmental approval does not come by, the project faces two tough options. City & Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), the state government arm entrusted with planning and building industrial townships and the nodal agency for the airport project , will either have to shelve the plan or look for an alternative site around Mumbai, informed sources said.
“The existing airport barely manages 18 million passengers per annum. With the rapid growth in air traffic, aviation activity at this airport will virtually come to a halt unless we offload some burden. The airport proposes to start operations with 10 million passenger per annum capacity in 2012,” an official said. According to sources, Cidco has also been asked to carry out a fresh environment impact survey (EIS). Cidco has engaged IIT Powai to conduct EIS. Cidco officials told ET that the new problems that have cropped up could push the plan to operationalise the airport by 2012. “Technically, the project does not have environmental clearance from the MoEF as of now. Cidco is in the process of carrying out environmental impact survey and approval to the project will be on hold till we submit the report to MoEF,” a Cidco official told ET.
The airport is being built on 1142 hectares of land near Navi Mumbai of which 56% is already under the possession of the Airport Authority of India. Maharashtra government has sorted out land issues for another 22% of the proposed land and Cidco is slated to get control over this land also. Cidco is in the process of working out a compensation package for around 20,000 people inhabiting the remaining land.
The MoEF has pointed out that more than 30% of the entire proposed land falls under the Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ). Ironically , the National Coastal Zone Management Authority (NCZMA) had given its approval to the project. The MoEF’s refusal to give environmental clearance could also create problems for Cidco in resettlement of PAPs, sources said. “So far, the PAPs and their elected representatives have been co-operative . But procedural delays could test their patience and also fuel resentment which will create an additional hurdle,” Cidco sources said.
Earlier this year, Cidco had appointed New Jersey-based engineering consultancy company Louis Berger to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) in eight months. The DPR will enable CIDCO to float global tender for selecting a strategic private partner for the Rs 4765 crore project. But Cidco must get all clearances including the crucial environmental nod to move ahead.
STUCK ON THE RUNWAY
The go-ahead has still not come despite frenetic efforts by the state and the civil aviation ministry to get the project off the ground There are two possibilities that Cidco, the nodal agency for executing the airport work, is looking at It may either put the plan in deep freeze, or go for an alternative site around Mumbai CIdco has engaged IIT Bombay to carry out a fresh environment impact assessment, too It’s increasingly being felt that time has come to offload some burden from the existing airport. As of 15th of May 2008 the Ministry of Environments and Forests has approved the Navi Mumbai International Airport project. The construction is expected to be completed in 2012 just in time to take burden off the existing Chatrapati Sivaji International Airport.
[edit] Other sites now actively considered
As a result of the recent objections being raised by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on the current proposed location of the Navi Mumbai International Airport near Kopra Panvel area, apparently because the construction of the airport would involve reclamation of low-lying areas in an ecologically fragile zone as well as destruction of several hectares of mangroves. As a result of these new developments couple of other locations are being actively being considered. The first site exist off village Nevali near Kalyan 55 km away from the current airport in Mumbai, and lying between the Kalyan - Ambernath region. There exists an old and abandoned air-strip of World War II era and the Union Defence Ministry owns the 1,500 acres (6.1 km²) of land its located on. The proposal is now centred around those 1,500 acres (6.1 km²) of land which was used as an air-strip during World War II. The second location is obviously centred around the region the area of Rewas and Mandwa near Alibaug, where the original proposal of second international airport existed on all regional development plans, and the location was commented to be the most fit and correct barring the excessive finiancial cost involved in building a sea-link/creek bridge over the Karanja Creek connecting Uran - JNPT area to the proposed airport at Rewas Mandwa. If the current location at Kopra Panvel does not go thru, then either the Kalyan-Newali location or the Rewas - Mandwa locations will be considered for this project.
