New airport at Navi Mumbai closer to reality

New Delhi/Mumbai, Aug. 28

Mumbai is close to getting a second airport. This follows the Ministers of Civil Aviation and Environment and Forest agreeing to concede a little ground after sorting out differences over the proposed airport.

The main objection of the Environment Ministry to the Navi Mumbai site was that two rivers will have to be diverted and a hill blasted, and about 400 acres of mangroves destroyed.

The project may still come up at Navi Mumbai, though, without impacting the rivers, following the reported give-and-take at the meeting between the two Central Ministers, Mr Praful Patel and Mr Jairam Ramesh.

Indications are that the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC), whose clearance is required for the project, is likely to agree to the newly worked strategy.

Ongoing issue

The search for a suitable site for the new airport has been going on for some time now.

During his recent visit to Mumbai, Mr Ramesh had suggested Kalyan in Thane district as an alternative. Mr Patel, however, has been against the airport being shifted to Kalyan on the grounds that the site is not suitable for an airport.

However, a leading transportation expert felt that the Kalyan-Ambernath site would be feasible if connected to the Mumbai city by a six-lane express way.

Today, it would take over two-and-half hours to drive from there to South Mumbai. Incidentally, Nevali village in Kalyan-Ambernath, has a defunct airstrip and over 1,700 acres of land, which was used as a military airbase by the British administration during World War II. The land is today with the Ministry of Defence and a part of it is used by the Department of Atomic Energy for research activities.

IIT report

IIT-Bombay that recently submitted an Environment Impact Analysis on the Navi Mumbai project to the Environment Ministry had also considered alternative sites at Mahapan in Sindhudurg and Rewas-Mandwa in Raigad district.

Alternative sites

However, in the report it pointed out that the Mahapan site was unviable as it is approximately 350 km away from the city and would take about 10 hours to reach by road. Rewas-Mandwa was closer to Mumbai, but it did not have the necessary support infrastructure.

Under pressure

The two Ministers have been under tremendous pressure from various quarters, including the Prime Minister's Office, to resolve the issue.

A group of MPs who met the Prime Minister over the delay in implementing the project told newspersons that Dr Manmohan Singh had expressed surprise that a project which had got the Cabinet nod and environmental clearance in 2008 was yet to take off.

Project delay

The project is already delayed by three years due to land acquisition issues and environment clearances.

The proposed airport was planned to de-congest the Mumbai airport, which is slated to reach saturation by 2012. Mr Patel said recently that the Government had to refuse permission to airlines wanting to operate to Mumbai due to lack of space.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/08/29/stories/2010082951370100.htm

By Minna Niskanen, 30.8.2010 13:58