Cabinet clears second international airport for Mumbai

01 Jun 2007

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New Delhi: The Union Cabinet has finally cleared construction of a new international airport for Mumbai through the public-private partnership route. The project is likely to cost roughly Rs9,970 crore.

Briefing newspersons after a Cabinet meeting, finance minister, P Chidambaram said, "The Cabinet gave its in-principle approval for an international airport at Navi Mumbai realising the need of the growing traffic through the city."

The airport will be developed as a Greenfield facility, along the same lines as the new airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore.

Mumbai's existing international airport at Santa Cruz, the Chhatrapati Shivaji international airport (CSIA), may be fully saturated by 2013, even after factoring in the restructuring and modernisation carried out by a consortium comprising of GVK International and Airports Company of South Africa.

Air-traffic forecasts say that the number of air passengers transiting through Mumbai could reach 27.5 million per annum (mpa) around 2010. In 2015, the figure is likely to be 40 mpa, and more than 80 mpa in 2026.

"It was, therefore, imperative that the proposed second airport at Mumbai should be operational before 2013 to meet the increasing air traffic demand," an official statement said.

The Maharashtra government is in the process of finalizing acquisition of land for the new airport at a site near Panvel, in the twin city of Navi Mumbai. About 35 kms away from Santa Cruz, where CSIA is located, the site has developed infrastructure, power, water supply, roads, and communication amenities. Moreover, environmental and rehabilitation issues are expected to be at a minimal level at the site.

An area of approximately 1140 hectares has been earmarked for the second airport. Of these, about 620 hectares are in the possession of the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd (CIDCO). Another 225 hectares of government land is being transferred to CIDCO. The remaining 295 hectares is private land, which is in the process of being acquired.

CIDCO has already conducted a techno-economic feasibility study for the new airport. A detailed simulation study was also carried out by the International Civil Aviation Organisation to ensure conflict-free operation at both airports.

CIDCO has envisaged development in four phases: Phase-1 (2008-12), for a planned capacity of 10 mpa at an estimated cost of Rs4,200 crore; Phase-2 (2015-2017), augmenting planned capacity to 20 mpa at Rs1,896 crore; Phase-3 (2020-2022), for additional capacity of 10 mpa at Rs1,600 crore; and Phase-4 (2026-2028), further increasing the capacity to 40 mpa at Rs2,272 crore.

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