The signboard at Kopra-Panvel, about 35 km from the existing Mumbai airport at Santa Cruz, was put up with much fanfare in 2004 after the site was finalised for the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport. Six years later, time seems to have stood still at the site — the land remains as barren, with not a soul in sight. The only visible change is the fading blue colour of the signboard, as the cloud of uncertainty thickens over Mumbai’s second airport project, which was to have come up over 1,600 hectares at a cost of around Rs 10,000 crore.
Apart from the airport itself, what’s at stake is the development of several infrastructure projects in its vicinity at an investment of around Rs 40,000 crore. The projects were lined up by the Maharashtra government, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and the City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) in and around Navi Mumbai.
One Cidco official said the uncertainty has put a serious question mark over the viability of these projects. They include a special economic zone (estimated cost: Rs 6,500 crore), a 22.5-km Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (Rs 7,700 crore), Navi Mumbai metro project (Rs 3,500 crore), mass transit scheme and development schemes for Navi Mumbai (Rs 4,000 crore), real estate projects (Rs 15,000 crore), and a golf course (Rs 100 crore).
| Projects under threat | Proposed investment (Rs crore) |
| Real estate | 15,000 |
| Dronagiri SEZ | 6,500 |
| Trans Harbour Link | 7,700 |
| Transit & development | 4,000 |
| Navi Mumbai metro | 3,500 |
| Golf course | 100 |
| Total | 36,800 |
The Cidco official said these infrastructure projects and investments were feasible only if the airport actually comes up. In addition, the airport would open up the state’s vast hinterland — rich in agriculture, floriculture, hi-tech industries — to the world market.
But, with the airport project currently mired in environmental delays, the infrastructure projects now face an uncertain fate. For example, development of the Dronagiri SEZ, in which Cidco has 26 per cent equity, is making glacial progress; only a compound wall has been erected. “Had the airport received clearance on time, the flow of investments would have gathered momentum,” the Cidco official said.
So, too, with the Trans-Harbour Link, which has a transformational potential well beyond just a transport project. Once constructed, it will substantially resolve Mumbai’s infrastructural bottlenecks by freeing up large tracts of land for affordable housing in a city already starved for space. It will also help decongest the city. Officials said the location of the airport was considered on several parameters, prominent among these being the fact that Navi Mumbai is expected to absorb future growth in population, business and commercial activity in the region.
Sunil Mantri, president of the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry, said several big-ticket residential and office complexes, malls, among others, were planned in the vicinity of the new airport. “The uncertainty over the new airport is a huge setback. We expect clarity on this issue, as the airport’s development is key to all these projects,” Mantri added. He has reasons to be worried, as real estate prices in Navi Mumbai have shot up by nearly 400 per cent in the last six years in anticipation of the airport and its attendant benefits, but could crash if the airport project is scrapped.
The bone of contention between the Union environment and forests ministry and the Maharashtra government is that the new airport at the proposed site would involve destruction of 400 acres of mangrove, diversion of the rivers Gadhi and Ulwe, and levelling of a 91-metre hillock, which the environment ministry says acts as a natural buffer for the coastline.
But, Cidco says if the site is shifted to Uran — one of the possible alternative sites being considered — it would lead to the levelling of two big hills in the Karnala range. It would also mean relocation of 20,000 villagers, which would be more controversial.
While the respective ministers are expected to meet shortly to resolve the issue at the behest of the Prime Minister, the consensus is that Mumbai badly needs another airport. The existing airport barely manages 18 million passengers a year and its runways handle over 30 flight movements an hour — the optimum capacity being 40 flight movements, which the airport is likely to touch very shortly. The Navi Mumbai airport had proposed to start operations with 10 million passengers a year capacity in 2012.
