Jairam Ramesh gives green nod, Mumbai will get second airport

With the environmental clearance for the Navi Mumbai airport project coming through, Mumbai is all set to get its second airport. The Union environment ministry okayed the project on Monday, saying all “green” concerns have been amicably addressed.

The first phase of this project should be ready by 2014-15. The airport will have an annual capacity of 10 million passengers at that point, civil aviation minister Praful Patel said.

As per the original plan, passenger capacity should double to
20 million by 2020 and to 40 million in the final phase by 2030. But given the saturation of the international airport at Mumbai, it is possible that the Navi Mumbai project would be expedited and built in two phases instead of four, he added.

He said the investment in the first phase would be Rs4,000 crore and the project would be executed under the PPP (public private partnership) model. The private developer will be awarded 74% equity, 13% will remain with CIDCO and another 13% with the Airports Authority of India. Around 1,140 hectares have been
earmarked for the project.

Pointing to the congestion at the Mumbai airport, Patel said his ministry has already decided to stop all Turboprop operations under general aviation from there.    

It has also banned new commercial flights from this airport. Already, runway repair work means one runway is unavailable for operation between 9am and 5pm every day, the minister said.
After the current upgradation is over, Mumbai International Airport Limited’s (Mial) peak capacity would reach 40 million passengers annually but even that may not be enough. Patel had said earlier that in 24 hours, “we are already using peak airport capacity for 15 hours every day” at the existing airport.

At present, there are 32 aircraft movements per hour at the existing airport but when its capacity reaches 40 million passengers, there will be 40 an hour. It handled 26 million passengers in FY10 on a land area of 1,849 acres versus Delhi which handled almost the same number of passengers at more than double the land area at 5,200 acres. Even Hyderabad, which handles just about seven million passengers in a year, has 5,400 acres at its disposal.

Patel said the award of contracts for Navi Mumbai should be completed in 12 months. There are still some clearances - from forests, high court - and issues such as acquisition of some land and rehabilitation of 3,000 families which need to be addressed. He said when the final phase is completed, the project will ensure one lakh direct and an equal number of indirect jobs.