Navi Mumbai airport to be ready by 2012

Will be operational by the time Mumbai airport reaches its saturation capacity of 40 million.

With the prime consultant for structuring the bidding process for Navi Mumbai International Airport expected to be appointed by the end of this month, the City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) "" the infrastructure arm of the Maharashtra government "" says it will meet the 2012 deadline for completion of the airport's first phase.

The airport, to be built at a cost of Rs 2,787 crore, will have a capacity of 10 million passengers per year. The deadline is important as Mumbai international airport will reach its saturation point of 40 million passengers per annum by then.

Allaying fears that the project might hit a roadblock due to slow land acquisition, nature of soil on which the construction will take place and delays in environmental clearances, Cidco Vice-Chairman and Managing Director GS Gill said: "We decided that the prime consultant would be appointed within six months of floating the tenders. We achieved the target. We are following up with the agencies concerned for land acquisition and will announce the final rehabilitation package soon."

Cidco has zeroed in on three sites in Navi Mumbai to rehabilitate those the project will displace ""10 villages with 3,500 families.
 

NAVI MUMBAI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
Revised estimates (2006)

Total project area: 2,053 hectares 

Total area for airport activity: 1,140 hectares 

Total projected cost: Rs 4,765 crore

Phase I 

To be completed by 2012

Projected cost: Rs 2,787 crore

Passenger handling capacity (per annum):10 million

Phase II

To be completed by 2020

Projected cost: Rs 841 crore

Passenger handling capacity (per annum): 20 million

Phase III

To be completed by 2025

Projected cost: Rs 543 crore

Passenger handling capacity (per annum): 30 million 

Phase IV

To be completed by 2030

Projected cost: Rs 594 crore

Passenger handling capacity (per annum): 40 million

The rehabilitation package will cost Rs 250-Rs 300 crore. Of the 2,053 hectares marked for the project, Cidco holds 57 per cent and the state government 21 per cent. The rest, on which major activity will take place, is yet to be acquired.

"We have offered land equivalent to their present holdings, plus an additional 50 square metres to each joint family and 10 square metres to each nuclear family along with small material benefits and 750 days' wages," said Gill.

The prime consultant, officials say, is scheduled to submit its report within 10 months (by October). The bids for selecting the strategic partner will be invited on the basis of the report. The process is likely to be completed in another four months.

Navi Mumbai airport will be built as a public-private-partnership through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) in which Cidco and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will together hold 26 per cent equity. The rest will be held by the strategic private partner.

"Within this time, we will clear all hurdles like land acquisition, clearing the proposed airport site of high-tension wires and getting environmental clearances. We should be able to give the land to the strategic partner after 14 months," said Gill.

Financial quotations for the bids will be invited either on a revenue-share basis or on the basis of the real estate that needs to be developed. The first right of refusal is with infrastructure group GVK, which is modernising Mumbai international airport.

Gill said environmental clearances were not a problem as the National Coastal Zone Management Authority (40 per cent area falls within Coastal Regulation Zone I) agreed that airport was an essential activity. Cidco has already initiated talks with Tata Power and the Maharashtra State Electricity Board for removing electricity wires from the area.

The Indian Institute of Management and the Central Research and Power Station (Pune) have been commissioned to conduct an environment-impact assessment and hydrographic studies of the site, respectively.