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UN agency studies Navi Mumbai site

The civil aviation ministry has taken the first step in making a new airport in Mumbai a reality, contracting the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

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NEW DELHI: The civil aviation ministry has taken the first step in making a new airport in Mumbai a reality, contracting the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a United Nations agency with 187 member-nations, to undertake a technical survey for a greenfield project in Navi Mumbai.

Confirming this, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told DNA on Saturday, “We are looking at the feasibility of a new airport in Navi Mumbai. ICAO has been asked to do a technical survey.”

A team from the Montreal-based agency is in India for the survey. Its report is expected in three-four months. This sets to rest speculation about the location of Mumbai’s second airport, provided ICAO approves the Navi Mumbai site.  

The survey will assess the area’s topography in terms of high-rise buildings and hillocks that could interfere with flight paths, its alignment with the existing one for a convenient flight corridor, efficient management of air traffic, safety, and other parameters that come into play in the making of a world-class international airport.

The proposed site measures 3,500 acres, a ministry source revealed on condition of anonymity.

While it is clear that Mumbai will get a second airport, the source cautioned that there are many hurdles to be crossed before any such project takes off. The most important of these is connectivity.

A new airport in Navi Mumbai will make sense only after work starts on the proposed trans-harbour link to connect Sewri in central Mumbai with Nhava in Navi Mumbai. The plan here is for an eight-lane road link and two rail tracks.

The 22.5km bridge will be India’s longest sea link. The project - estimated to cost Rs6,600 crore and slated to be completed in four years - will be farmed out to a consortium of bidders through an international tender.

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, nodal agency for the project, has issued pre-bid documents in this regard.

The project does not preclude the upgrading and modernisation of Mumbai’s existing airport by private companies. That process is on and financial bids are expected to be opened next week, after the chairman of the empowered Group of Ministers on airports, Pranab Mukherjee, signs the minutes of the last meeting, which cleared the privatisation of Mumbai and Delhi airports.
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