The City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) of Maharashtra has set the ball rolling on the development of the Navi Mumbai international airport. Cidco, the nodal agency for the project, will issue requests for qualification (RFQs) on February 5.
The issuance of RFQs was deferred for about a year and a half due to lack of an agreement with project-affected persons.
Cidco Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Sanjay Bhatia said, “We have decided to go ahead with the RFQ process; simultaneously, negotiations are on with PAPs of six of the 18 villages that are yet to give consent for land acquisition. The bid process takes up to a year for finalisation; we did not wish to delay it.”
He, however, clarified the requests for proposals (the second stage) would be issued only after all PAPs gave their consent. Cidco is yet to acquire 260 hectares in these villages. Bhatia said the rehabilitation package cleared by the state government and PAPs wouldn’t be changed.
The state government had been under pressure to launch a tender process for the airport, following the intervention of the Prime Minister’s Office. While inaugurating the Mumbai airport’s T2 terminal on January 10, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said all pending issues related to the Navi Mumbai airport had been resolved.
The government’s rehabilitation package includes the allotment of 22.5 per cent developed land. Instead of providing 1.5 per cent floor space index (FSI), Cidco will provide FSI of about two to PAPs. The value of the developed land will be Rs 16-17 crore a hectare.
Earlier, PAPs were scheduled to get 12.5 per cent of the developed land, after 10-15 years. Now, Cidco will allot 22.5 per cent of the developed land the day the consent award is signed. Besides, PAPs will get three times the footprint area of their existing houses.
Experts say the Mumbai airport is growing at ten per cent a year and is expected to reach full capacity of 40 million passengers a year by 2015, under an unconstrained growth scenario. Owing to capacity constraints, experts rule out further expansion at that airport. The Navi Mumbai airport is expected to handle 10 million passengers in the first phase; its overall capacity will be 60 million.
