Navi Mumbai airport: Govt may reclaim land from sea for airport, says CM

How about a Chek Lap Kok in Navi Mumbai? For beginners, Chek Lap Kok is the Hong Kong International Airport. Sprawling over 3080 acres, it is built on mostly land reclaimed from sea. It is said the airport added 1 percent to the total area of Hong Kong. How well does an engineering marvel like this fit in the crammed city of Mumbai? [caption id=“attachment_1233557” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Hong Kong International Airport. Reuters. [/caption] Whether it fits or not, the Maharashtra government is dreaming of something like this for the proposed Navi Mumbai airport. In the latest twist to the saga of this long-pending proposal, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has said that the state government is toying with the idea of setting up the new airport on land reclaimed from the sea. He has told a conference yesterday that the government will shift the location of the airport and is in talks with a Dutch company to weigh possibilities of developing an airport like Chek Lap Kok or Osaka in Japan. “We have engaged a Dutch company to study and undertake feasibility to develop proposed Navi Mumbai airport on reclaimed land,” Chavan has been quoted as saying in a report in The Economic Times. This announcement comes after a section of villagers rejected the government’s compensation package. The government had offered the project affected people 22.5 acre of developed land with an average floor space index of 2. No cash was offered, though. The package was publicised as the biggest compensation package in the country. The government also said the villagers approving the package meant the last hurdle for the project was cleared. However, on Wednesday a DNA report said six villages housing 700 families have rejected the offer, demanding higher compensation. They have asked for Rs 6.25 crore per hectare as cash compensation and 35 percent developed plot. The chief minister’s latest announcement comes in this backdrop. He says this is a back-up plan he has in case the government fails to get the required land. This indicates the government is now warming up to the reality that the City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco), which is developing the airport, may not get all the villagers to agree to the terms. According to a report in The Times of India, Cidco has asked the Netherlands Airport Consultants to give an estimate of the time and cost of the project. The plan is to reclaim land near Panvel creek for the purpose, says the report. One thing is for sure, we can expect a long and protracted battle if the government indeed decides to go ahead with such a plan, which is potentially dangerous to the environment. In other words, Mumbai’s dream of a second airport is unlikely to be materialised in the near future.