Green panel happy over revised proposal for Navi Mumbai airport

After months of delay, the Navi Mumbai airport is likely to get the green nod as an environment panel today expressed satisfaction over the revised proposal submitted by its project developer City Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO).

"No more clarifications are needed from CIDCO. We will give the committee's recommendations on the Navi Mumbai airport to the Ministry (Environment) within next two-three days," EAC head Naresh Dayal told reporters here after the panel's meeting.

The Committee will soon submit its suggestions to Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh who will take a final call in the matter.

The Environment and Civil Aviation ministries had been at loggerheads over the airport project. However, with both the ministries reaching a compromise formula late last month on green issues, the project, which aims at meeting the increasing air traffic need of the financial hub of the country, is all set to take off soon.

The panel today examined the revised proposal submitted by CIDCO and felt that major ecological concerns raised by it from time-to-time were addressed.

A major concern of EAC was to reduce the distance between two runways to minimise the impact on two rivers- Gadhi and Ulwe.

As desired by the green panel, CIDCO agreed the airport site would not be changed but the location of non-aeronautical assets like hotels and shopping areas will be shifted.

This would be done to ensure that there is minimum damage to the 400 acres of mangroves and some hillocks in the area and two rivers -- Ulwe and Gadhi -- are not diverted.

CIDCO also agreed to reduce the distance between two runways from 1,835 meters to 1,500 meters which would ensure that there will be no diversion of Gadhi and impact on Ulwe will be minimised. Ulwe will flow beneath the airport site as proposed by CIDCO.

Expressing confidence that the project will cross the green hurdle, Joint MD of CIDCO Tanaji Satre said after the EAC meeting that "all issues (raised by EAC) have been complied with. Everything has been positive... No pending issue. Now the matter is with EAC."

As asked by Environment Ministry, CIDCO has also agreed to develop a mangrove park in around 275 hectares to compensate the loss of mangroves due to the proposed airport.

The project was approved by the Union Cabinet in 2007 as it was felt that the existing Mumbai airport, where additional flights are now being restricted due to saturation, is slated to exhaust its capacity of handling 40 million passengers a year by 2013.