We'll reach passenger capacity of 60 mn at Navi Mumbai by 2030: Cidco chief

Q&A with Sanjay Bhatia, Managing Director of Cidco

Building new infrastructure is never an easy task. It becomes harder when the agency entrusted with the task is government-owned and government-run. When the land required for construction already has people living on it, the matter gets even trickier. And when the region where the project is proposed to come up is a hot bed of political factions, the magnitude of the task multiplies. 
 

The Navi Mumbai airport is a prime example of all the variables mentioned above coming together in a deadly cocktail. When the project was first conceived in the late 1990s, it was to come up by 2004-05 and was envisaged to cost one-third of its present estimates.

Now, the first flight from the new airport is expected to take off in October 2019 and the project is expected to cost Rs 14,000 crore. Four bids of interest have come in. The concession agreement and the request for qualification is being finalised. By November 15, City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (Cidco) hopes to hand over documents to the four interested bidders.

The final bids are expected by mid March 2016 and a partner for Cidco is likely to be in place by the middle of next year. Work on the new airport is expected to begin by September-October 2016. Sanjay Bhatia , managing director of Cidco, spoke to Anjuli Bhargava on the Navi Mumbai airport and how a change in approach is making things look better. Edited excerpts: 

How urgent is the building of the new airport in terms of saturation levels for Mumbai ? Airlines say they are short of space...

Even after the recent expansion by the existing airport, they can handle around 40 million passengers comfortably. This can perhaps be pushed to 45 million. They have already reached 37-38 million. Growth was 12-15 per cent per annum in the past few years. By the time our first flight takes off (the first phase capacity will be 10 million to start with), this airport will be at full capacity. It will not be in a position to handle any more. 

According to our calculations, by 2030, we will reach 60 million passenger capacity at Navi Mumbai. There is no dearth of passengers as I see it.

Your predecessor Tanaji Satre had made similar projections and given deadlines, which were missed. How will it be different this time ?

Getting all the required land parcels for construction has been the biggest challenge. Now, finally, all the consent awards are in place. Awards are now ready for land to be acquired. Two hundred and sixty-one hectares are in the process of being acquired. We expect this to be over in the next two months. Ten village settlements (only 17 hectares, but spread all over) have to be moved. We now have the consent of these 3,500 families. 

This has been possible due to a change in approach to some extent. One, we have promised them land in place of land. Then, we have started training the children of these people to be employed in various activities and jobs that will spring up in the area thanks to the new airport. For instance, training is being given with a view to them being hired by an aviation academy that is to come up. We have tied up with IL&FS for this. They are being trained for six months to one year. 

Recently, one of the children of the people affected in this project was selected by IIM (Indian Institute of Management) Ahmedabad and we (Cidco) decided to foot the bill. Similarly, two of them want to go abroad for higher studies and we have decided to foot the bill.

In a sense, they have become permanent stakeholders in the project. Their future is linked with the success of the airport. Some of them have shares in the airport project, too. 

If they lose their land and get only money in exchange, they will be happy for a few years — they buy cars and jewellery and often spend the money as quickly as they receive it... Once the money is spent, they start suffering. 

Cidco is doing the pre-development work, for which we have invited four tenders. By end-December, these will be awarded. 

The third issue is clearances. We have all clearances except stage-2 forest clearance.

Is there a realisation in Delhi that getting all these clearances is urgent now ?

Tremendous realisation. This is one of the top projects on the Prime Minister’s list of Pragati projects. Through video-conference all chief secretaries and principal secretaries sit in every month and the PM is monitoring these personally. Whenever there is an issue, the Centre and the state government are on board and matters can be resolved then and there. This has made a huge difference in my view.