'Shamefully late': Mumbai begins work on new airport after 20-year wait

'We have been shamefully late in building a second airport for Mumbai,' said Mark Martin, founder of Dubai-based Martin Consulting LLC

Mumbai finally started work on a new airport more than two decades after first proposing it, as jets ran out of space to operate in one of the busiest aerodromes using a single runway.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of Navi Mumbai International Airport, to be built on about 1,160 hectares (2,866 acres) of land about 35 kilometers (22 miles) southeast of the existing facility. The new airport, expected to handle 60 million passengers annually when fully complete, is running behind schedule with problems ranging from approvals to delays in the bidding process.

“We are trailing behind