Shot in the arm for island airport plan
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City and Industrial Development Corporation|Cidco|airport plan|Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust|Islands
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MUMBAI/ NAVI MUMBAI: The City and Industrial Development Corporation
(Cidco) has written to a Dutch consultant to give the cost and time
estimate for a feasibility study on building a 1,200-hectare artificial
island airport.
The plan envisages reclaiming land off the coast near the Panvel creek on the lines of Chek Lap Kok airport at Hong Kong, the Bangkok airport and the Osaka Airport in Japan.
Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Friday said that the government wants to keep the island airport option alive as an alternative to the proposed Navi Mumbai airport as differences still persist among villagers on the deal reached last week for acquisition of land.
Chavan said that the government had asked for a feasibility study, but Cidco sources said that the letter, written on Thursday by the planning body, asked the Netherlands Airport Consultants (Naco) to provide the cost and time estimates for the study. This study will also look at the artifical island airport's impact on the nearby Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).
Sources said that Cidco is veering around to the view that it would be very difficult to get all the villagers involved to agree to the land acquisition terms as differences exist among them-about eight villages are still holding out on the deal. Cidco has acquired 2,288 hectares of land for the Navi Mumbai airport project; the stalemate is about the remaining 271 hectares.
The letter is also a clear signal to the villagers that Cidco would not wait forever for them to agree to the terms. "We have some time, but we won't wait for long either,'' a source said.
Naco has already made a presentation to Cidco, which involved building several islands. But sources said that Cidco is currently interested in building only one island for the proposed airport. If other agencies, such as the JNPT, were interested, they could look at the other islands, the sources said.
If the island airport becomes a reality, the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link will have to be realigned. In the eventuality, about 6 km of the 22-km sea link will run through the island and this stretch will be subsidized, Cidco sources said.
The sources added that the joint secretary of the Union ministry of enviornment and forests, who had reviewed the project, was very positive on the artificial island airport option and has given Cidco a go-ahead for the feasibility study.
(Inputs from Clara Lewis)
Sea option attractive
* Cidco finds the airport-on-sea option attractive as it would only cost about a third to build-about Rs 3,000 crore-as against more than Rs 10,000 crore for the Navi Mumbai airport
* The island airport plan would also free up the prime commercial land near Kharghar earmarked for building Pushpak Nagar township for project-affected people. The planning body calculates that this land would be of immense value
* Cidco has already acquired 2,288 hectares of land, including 1,160 core aeronautical area, for the Navi Mumbai airport project; the current stalemate is about the remaining 271 hectares
* While the island airport is expected to be completed in 18 months, it would take two years to build and hand over Pushpak Nagar to the affected villagers of the Navi Mumbai project
The plan envisages reclaiming land off the coast near the Panvel creek on the lines of Chek Lap Kok airport at Hong Kong, the Bangkok airport and the Osaka Airport in Japan.
Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Friday said that the government wants to keep the island airport option alive as an alternative to the proposed Navi Mumbai airport as differences still persist among villagers on the deal reached last week for acquisition of land.
Chavan said that the government had asked for a feasibility study, but Cidco sources said that the letter, written on Thursday by the planning body, asked the Netherlands Airport Consultants (Naco) to provide the cost and time estimates for the study. This study will also look at the artifical island airport's impact on the nearby Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).
Sources said that Cidco is veering around to the view that it would be very difficult to get all the villagers involved to agree to the land acquisition terms as differences exist among them-about eight villages are still holding out on the deal. Cidco has acquired 2,288 hectares of land for the Navi Mumbai airport project; the stalemate is about the remaining 271 hectares.
The letter is also a clear signal to the villagers that Cidco would not wait forever for them to agree to the terms. "We have some time, but we won't wait for long either,'' a source said.
Naco has already made a presentation to Cidco, which involved building several islands. But sources said that Cidco is currently interested in building only one island for the proposed airport. If other agencies, such as the JNPT, were interested, they could look at the other islands, the sources said.
If the island airport becomes a reality, the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link will have to be realigned. In the eventuality, about 6 km of the 22-km sea link will run through the island and this stretch will be subsidized, Cidco sources said.
The sources added that the joint secretary of the Union ministry of enviornment and forests, who had reviewed the project, was very positive on the artificial island airport option and has given Cidco a go-ahead for the feasibility study.
(Inputs from Clara Lewis)
Sea option attractive
* Cidco finds the airport-on-sea option attractive as it would only cost about a third to build-about Rs 3,000 crore-as against more than Rs 10,000 crore for the Navi Mumbai airport
* The island airport plan would also free up the prime commercial land near Kharghar earmarked for building Pushpak Nagar township for project-affected people. The planning body calculates that this land would be of immense value
* Cidco has already acquired 2,288 hectares of land, including 1,160 core aeronautical area, for the Navi Mumbai airport project; the current stalemate is about the remaining 271 hectares
* While the island airport is expected to be completed in 18 months, it would take two years to build and hand over Pushpak Nagar to the affected villagers of the Navi Mumbai project
