As the proposed Navi Mumbai airport still remains on paper even after 15 years due to land acquisition issues, engineering services major Netherlands Airport Consultants has suggested creating an island near the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) to tide over the deadlock.
“The Navi Mumbai airport project is embroiled in controversies regarding compensation to the project affected parties and also green clearances, leading to a massive cost escalation. We have therefore proposed to Maharashtra to consider an alternative location by creating an island in the bay area near the JNPT,” Netherlands Airport Consultants regional manager Joeri Aulman said.
Mr Aulman, who was in the city to address a Dutch-organised urban seminar over the weekend, said they have made a presentation to the state in this regard.
“We have proposed to create an island by reclamation of the bay area to the north of JNPT. We will need to create nearly 2,500 hectares to develop the project. It will make available more land without affecting the nature,” he said. When asked about the response from the state, he replied, “We got a positive response from the state government which said it will take up the proposal with the Union environment and forest ministry.”
According to Cidco, which is the project executioner, the project cost, which was pegged at `4,766 crore in 1998 when the airport was proposed, has risen more than threefold to around `14,573 crore now. The over 305 per cent cost escalation has also partly to do with capacity increase to 60 million passengers annually from the 40 million originally planned.
“We estimate the cost for creating this project would be around `15,000 crore (which is slightly more than the current estimate). Later, we can also expand the capacity as per the original plan of the government,” Mr Aulman said. He further said the land under the original plan could be used for developing real estate infrastructure.