Second airport for Mumbai may receive cabinet clearance today
31 May 2007
According to government sources, the proposals on a new civil aviation policy for the industry may be deferred as the Prime Minister's Office has sought more clarifications over some of the provisions of the draft policy.
The government wants to develop a second airport for Mumbai on a fast-track basis as the existing Mumbai airport is expected to reach saturation point by 2012. The second airport would be constructed under the public private partnership (PPP) model.
As per existing proposal, the new airport will be developed in four phases at a total investment of about Rs10,000 crore, and would have the capacity to handle 40 million passengers per annum (mppa) when fully complete by 2028. By this period, the number of air travelers for Mumbai is expected to grow to about 90 million passengers per year, from 20 million at present.
Once the proposal is cleared, the civil aviation ministry will be expected to invite bids for the Greenfield airport by the end of the year, with actual work beginning in the next fiscal. The Mumbai International Airport (MIAL), consisting of GVK and Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA), which are currently carrying out the modernisation of the existing Mumbai airport, would have first rights of refusal for the second airport, according to sources.
The City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (Cidco) and IL&FS have already been working on a business plan for the project. The corporation, along with the Airport Authority of India, would hold 26% in the second airport with the rest being held by the private developer.
The government has identified a location on National Highway 4B for the new airport. About 1,140 hectare of land for the airport has already been identified of which 620 hectare is in possession of Cidco and another 225 hectares is with the state government. This portion is in the process of being transferred to the corporation.
It is understood that Cidco would bear the cost of land and land development and will also provide 10% additional land for city side development.
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