Cidco asks Centre for early RFQ nod on Navi Mumbai airport

Also, renewed request for transfer of authority for project to state

The Maharashtra government and state-run City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) on Monday sought the intervention of Ajit Singh, the Union civil aviation minister, for early transfer of responsibility for the Navi Mumbai International Airport project from the Airports Authority of India to the state.

Singh attended a meeting here, chaired by state chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, to review the progress on both the Navi Mumbai project and expansion of the Mumbai international airport.

Cidco, nodal state agency for the project, also asked Singh to accord early approval to the formal Request for Qualification (RFQ) document. Once the RFQ terms are approved, a global tender can be floated for inviting entities to bid. “The minister has assured he would give early approval,” Cidco chairman Pramod Hindurao told Business Standard.

As for the project transfer (in line with the Greenfield Airports Policy, 2008), “If the Centre accepts the state’s demand for transfer of the entire project, then all the approvals would (need to) be (only) taken from the state government. Further, Cidco would be able to issue RFQ at the earliest,” Hindurao said.

Of the 2,020 hectares required for the airport project, nearly 1,400 hectare (ha) was in Cidco’s possession, while the state government agreed to hand over another 150 ha. Cidco needs another 450 ha of private land, for which notices have been served under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.As reported recently, Cidco proposes handing over a total of 22.5 per cent of the developed land to people who stand to lose theirs’ for the project (from 10 villages in the area), instead of the monetary compensation of Rs 20 crore per acre pressed for by those affected. The proposed land would be provided by the Cidco management in Navi Mumbai and the villagers would be entitled to use a portion of the developed land for residential and commercial purposes. This is being discussed with representatives of the project-affected people by a committee chaired by the Konkan divisional commissioner.