Navi Mumbai airport: HC allows amendment to CRZ rules

Mumbai: In a major boost to the proposed Navi Mumbai airport, the Bombay High Court has allowed the state government to seek an amendment to the Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) rules.
A senior official with the urban development department of Maharashtra told ET that the amendment was expected to come through latest by the end of May or first week of June. “It will be a simple amendment, which the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) can carry out at its level without resorting to a long procedure that involves inviting suggestions and objections from the people,” said the official, who did not wish to be named.
In March 2008, MoEF had refused environmental clearance to the project and asked the state government to seek permission from the Bombay High Court for an amendment to the CRZ rules. MoEF had cited a freeze put by HC in October 2005 on all development and construction activity, which involves cutting of mangroves.
Estimated at Rs 9,970 crore in four phases, the over 2,000-hectare Navi Mumbai airport project in Raigad district near Navi Mumbai proposes destruction of around 800 hectares of mangroves. Around 30% of the project site falls in the coastal zone.
MoEF had also drawn the state government’s attention to the violation of the CRZ rules by the airport project. Following MoEF directive, Cidco, a nodal agency for the airport project, filed a special application before the Bombay High Court seeking clearance for an amendment to the CRZ rules.
The state government officials associated with the project have made it clear that the amendment to the CRZ rules will be a “one time exception”.
05/05/09 Abhiram Ghadyalpatil/Economic Times

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Categories: Airports May 2009