Navi Mumbai airport: Central team to visit site in Oct-end

A central team will visit next month the proposed site for greenfield airport in Navi Mumbai to review the much-delayed project that has become a bone of contention between the Environment and Aviation ministries.

In its meeting held today, the Environment Appraisal Committee (EAC) has decided to send a team to the project site in October to assess the changes proposed by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), the prime body dealing with the project, sources said.

The CIDCO, in its recent report, said to have made changes in location of non-aeronautical assets like hotels with an aim to minimise the ecological impact on mangroves after the Environment Ministry expressed its concern over their safety.

The changes included building the runway on stilts and shifting shops and hotels to avoid damage to the mangroves.

However, the team will undertake the visit only in October end keeping in view of the monsoon season as the site being a low-lying area is stated to be submerged in rainwater.

"CIDCO was asked to do some tweaking of plans so that there is minimum effect on the environment. The non-aeronautical assets have to be constructed along with the airport terminal and two runways while not changing the basic location of the airport," Aviation Minister Praful Patel had said recently.

The project has been mired in controversy following strong objections by the Environment Ministry, which has opposed destruction of a large area of mangroves, diversion of two rivers in the area and the flattening of a hillock to make way for the runway.

Aviation Ministry, on the other hand wants the project to move fast to meet the increasing air traffic needs in the state.