PMO to get Navi Mumbai airport project update today

Meeting on Monday is an attempt to put development on fast track

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has stepped up efforts to put the much-delayed implementation of the Navi Mumbai international airport on the fast track mode.

On Monday, principal secretary in the PMO Pulok Chatterjee will meet City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) and Maharashtra government officials to assess the present status of the airport project and see how its implementation can be expedited.

Cidco, the nodal agency for the airport project, is in talks with project-affected persons (PAPs) — people from whom 291 hectares of land has been acquired for the project — to conclude the compensation package.

The PMO’s intervention comes in the backdrop of the airport project cost going up. The cost was originally envisaged at     Rs 4,766 crore in 1998 to handle 40 million passengers a year.

This has now gone up to about Rs 14,573 crore for 60 million passengers. Lack of acquisition of land has forced Cidco to defer the invitation of request for qualification. All major clearances are in Cidco’s possession, although the wild life approval is still awaited.

Cidco chairman Pramod Hindurao told Business Standard: “A team of Cidco officials will make a presentation to the PMO on Monday.” He added that issues relating to the relaxation of norms pertaining to the coastal zone regulation (CRZ) in Navi Mumbai will also come up for discussion at Monday’s meeting.

Hindurao said he would meet Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh to give a further push to the project development. “The Navi Mumbai airport project was discussed at the meeting between union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan held on September 20. All efforts are being made to enter into an agreement with PAPs,” he added.

Confirming his meeting with Chavan last week, Pawar said: “PMO is in constant touch with the state chief minister so that the project development kicks start at the earliest.”

Monday’s meeting is crucial as PAPs have expressed their opposition to seek rehabilitation package under the provisions of The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2012. According to the provisions of the Bill, PAPs are entitled to get cash compensation of Rs 40 lakh an acre.

However, PAPs are not keen on cash-for-cash compensation. Instead, they are insisting on the allocation of developed land.

The government has proposed to allocate 22.5 per cent developed land, but PAPs demand 35 per cent developed land.