MIAL celebrates two years, gears to tackle many more tough ones

Mumbai: Officials at the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) are apparently resorting to hyperbole when they describe the redevelopment of the airport as one of the world’s toughest infrastructure projects.
However, as MIAL marked two eventful years on Saturday – and has reasons to be proud over the neatly redeveloped domestic terminal – it is clear that the future of the project with the GVK-led consortium remains hanging as land disputes are hampering expansion plans.
At the crux of all plans are land the airport needs both inside and outside its walls. MIAL officials say that the Department of Posts (DoP) has refused to give up 25 acres of the Post & Tar Colony and Air India has attached riders to vacate its hangar area next to the international terminal building. Another 270 acres are occupied by slums.
So far, MIAL has built a parallel taxiway next to its main runway. But plans to build another set of taxiways for the second runway and a second taxiway for the main runway are stuck as there is no land to relocate facilities presently using the space earmarked for these taxiways.
04/05/08 Shashank Shekhar/Mumbai Newsline

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Categories: Airports May 2008