Navi Mumbai airport faces Rs20,000 crore land hurdle

Just when the momentum picked up for the Navi Mumbai International Airport after a two-year delay over environmental clearances, there’s a brand new threat to the mega project.

Local farmers, who collectively own more than 1,000 acres of land that’s earmarked for the airport, are now demanding a whopping Rs20 crore per acre, which is five times more that of the market rate.

Even though the land under possession of local villagers accounts for less than 25% of the airport site, the cost of this land alone will add up to Rs20,000-crore, throwing the airport project completely out of gear.   The orginal cost of the airport project was Rs10,000crore.

On their part, the villagers feel they are justified in demanding Rs20 crore per acre. Citing the example of development in nearby Ulwe, RC Gharat, representative of the airport project-affected villagers, said:  “The cost of developed land in Ulwe is Rs24 crore per acre and even if we allow Rs4 crore towards development costs, the market rate of the land is still Rs20 crore. Similarly, we should also get Rs20 crore per acre.”

Well aware that the land owned by villagers is crucial to the key project, the farmers have collectively upped the ante to eke out a good deal for themselves. “We have made our demand. Now, let them come up with their offer,” says Gharat, who’s also the president of Raigad district Congress. He added that if the airport project developers cannot afford to pay for the land, they have an alternative too.

“We are willing to give our land even free of cost, if Cidco promises to give us a 40% ownership after development of the project,” said Gharat.

Incidentally, during the course of developing the city of Navi Mumbai, Cidco had given 12.5% of developed land to the original inhabitants whose land was acquired for the city.

And this is just the compensation for the land. There is also the issue of rehabilitating each of the 6,000-odd villagers who stay in the 8 villages that will be unsettled to make way for the airport. “We have 40 years of experience in rehabilitation and developing entire cities. But this demand from the land owners, asking for the rate at which Cidco auctions plots in the open market, is nothing but blackmail,” said a senior official from Cidco, adding that in the quest for gaining brownie points, the local politicians may be harming the cause of the villagers.

Meanwhile, the administrative process for acquisition of land for the airport and rehabilitation of the villagers is also going on simultaneously.

A meeting presided by Konkan Division Commissioner SS Sandhu was held at CBD-Belapur on Tuesday, where the land owners formally presented their demand for either cash or stake in ownership.

“The ball is now in Cidco’s court. Let them come back with their compensation package and then we will take the next course of action,” said local MLA Vivek Patil, adding that the demands are consistent with the government’s just-introduced Land Acquisition Policy, which allows farmers to demand up to six times the market value for their land.

The total area required for the airport project is 2,020 hectares, of which 66% is in the possession of Cidco, 13% is government land and the remaining land is private owned by local villagers.