What’s Happening With Mumbai’s Second International Airport

With Mumbai getting more and more crowded and congested day by day, there was an urgent need for a new airport away from the crowd of the city. The government has finally begun realizing this need. In January this year, the state government acquired land at Navi Mumbai and bids to finish the first phase of the project by 2012. In addition to the congestion of the city, the current Chhattrapati Shivaji International Airport of Mumbai has reached its maximum capacity and cannot be expanded due to space constraints. This project didn’t materialize for several years due to objections from the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The airport is to be developed in Panvel, on 2,500 acres of land and will cost approximately Rs. 9000 crore. Panvel has been chosen as the location of the airport because of the availability of space, a good power and water supply, and limited rehabilitation issues. Currently, the Mumbai airport is under pressure due to the rapidly increasing number of air passengers, as it has over 25 million air travelers annually, and due to problems of air congestion. At this growth rate, the Mumbai airport will be fully saturated by 2010. The Panvel airport is seen as a relief to all these problems. Once functional, it will ease the air traffic of the Mumbai airport.

The process of land acquisition which was recently completed faced obstructions, as a portion of the land allotted for the airport is covered with mangroves and falls in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) and is an ecologically sensitive area. Due to this the project had come to a halt in March, but eventually the Union Environment Ministry agreed to back the project. Constructions have now begun smoothly. The Airport will be developed as a Greenfield Airport through Public Private Partnership (PPP) along the lines of the Greenfield Airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore. In this Public-Private Participation, CIDCO and the Airports Authority of India hold 26 per cent equity.