The environment ministry on Monday cleared the site for second airport in the financial capital at Navi Mumbai following a long tussle with civil aviation ministry over the proposed site. The new airport would be developed at an estimated cost of Rs 8,722 crore and be completed in the next 3-4 years.
The environment ministry had withheld the project saying that the development of new airport at the proposed site would result into the loss of several hundred acres of mangrove forests, blasting of a hill and re-routing of two rivers.
?We have worked on a compromise that would save part of the mangroves and avoid moving one of the rivers,? environment minister Jairam Ramesh said after announcing the clearance for the project.
The green nod for the project has, however, come with many riders. The environment ministry has directed the state government to ensure development of 678 acre of mangrove around the site besides not diverting the Gadhi river from its original course. Nearly 30 more conditions have been imposed to minimise the environmental impact.
The 90-metre high hillock would, however, be removed to smooth to runway and and the river Ulwe be re-coursed.
?A number of safeguards will have to be implemented to ensure that the environmental impact is kept to the minimum,? Ramesh said.
The minister also stressed for resettlement of families around the site.
The proposed airport at Navi Mumbai will be developed through public-private-participation (PPP) mode in which the private party will hold 74%, and state-owned City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) and Airports Authority of India (AAI) will have 13% stake each.
The new airport would bring more flights to the city as the existing airport is already infrastructure-constrained and would exhaust its capacity by 2013.
The new facility is expected to create a capacity of 60 million passengers annually in its final phase.